Brother's Keeper
by sebsbadkitty
Summary: Damon and Ric are hanging out at the Grill after the events of "Dangerous Liasons." A group of men come in looking for trouble and Stefan. What will Damon do? Brotherly love with romances of Stelena and Damon and a mystery girl.
1. Worth It

**So here's a new story. For those of you that have read my Vampire Academy stories, I'm so sorry for the lack of updating them. I have horrid writer's block for them, but I do plan on continuing them. Anyway, read and review. If you would like this story to be more than a one-shot please let me know. **

**I do not own Vampire Diaries or any of the cannons sadly enough.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

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><p>Of all the things that Damon and Stefan put each other through, the most recent one had to top the cake. History was beginning to repeat. They both wanted the same girl. The only difference was that she wasn't toying with them. She made it clear, on countless occasions, that it was Stefan she loved. Damon had just hoped that he could change her mind. Last night made it clear that he had been wrong. Stefan and Elena had made that clear at Klaus's little shindig.<p>

The night hadn't been a total waste. He had gotten the chance to snap one of the original brothers' necks and then had a very fun night of wild, drunken sex with Rebekah of all people. He couldn't say he exactly regretted it. He got wasted, Rebekah was there, they both had gotten their hearts shattered, and they both needed the outlet. It was a spur of the moment thing, and Damon couldn't say he regretted it. That didn't stop him from waking up to her in his bed.

He was now at The Grill with Ric, playing a game of pool. They had both been silent for most of the game. They had made bets on which of them would win, but then just fell silent. Of course they commented and jibed one another on occasion but neither put in effort to make conversation. It was until Damon won that Ric even tried to talk to him, much to the vampire's annoyance.

"Normally you're content at sticking to drinking your own stash in the morning and whatnot," Ric observed. "Why are you hanging out here so early?"

"I do it on occasion," Damon argued.

"When you're in a mood or you're avoiding someone or something," he said. "You haven't gone on a whiskey binge and you aren't drunk to attempt to hide it. That leaves avoidance. What happened? Am I going to have to call Elena or Stefan?"

"You're not calling either of them."

Ric raised an eyebrow at that and crossed his arms over his chest. Damon ignored the gaze. He just went up to the bar and ordered a whiskey. Once he was handed his drink, he turned to return to his banter with Ric only to pause as three men approached his friend and a single name caught Damon's attention.

"Do you know where we might find Stefan Salvatore?" one of the men asked Ric.

"That depends on why you want to find him," Ric said smoothly.

"He ruined my sister," the man said. "She comes back and gives me a name but refuses to give me anything else. I want to talk to him and I've heard you are one of the few that know him well."

Damon frowned at the words and briefly made eye contact with Ric. What the hell did his brother get himself into? Damon turned his back to them, but continued to listen to the conversation. He wanted answers before he got involved, and he trusted Ric to get them. Sighing, he took a drink of his whiskey and relaxed.

"I don't know where he," Ric said. "And I wouldn't give him to you even if I did. Mind telling me what you are, though?"

"Werewolves," a man, slightly younger than the first one, said. "And we are here to get payback."

Damon snapped his head up and looked at the group, finally realizing what must have gone down. That also meant it wasn't his brother's fault. It had to have been back when Klaus had him in his claws. Slowly getting to his feet, he made his way toward the group. It didn't surprise him when the group of werewolves glared suspiciously at him. He ignored it and just looked at Ric. He made his way over to his friend the were who hadn't spoken grabbed him by the arm.

"Who are you?" the first guy asked.

"Hey, Ric," he said, ignoring the were that spoke to him and glaring at the hand that was touching his good leather jacket. "Have you seen Damon? He said he'd be down here, and I need to talk to him."

Ric's eyes flicked with confusion, but unless one knew the man well, they would miss it. To his credit, he caught on quickly. There was no way Damon would willingly hand his brother over to a pack of vindictive wolves. Damon would take the fall, and he didn't mind it at all.

"Hey, we asked you who you are," the one who had him snapped.

"The name's Stefan," Damon said easily.

"How do we know that's true?" the first guy asked.

"Why would I lie about my name?"

"Look, you wanted Stefan Salvatore and here he is," Ric said, playing along. "Take it or leave it."

Without warning, the second guy to have spoken to Ric grabbed Damon's other arm. Ric tensed as if to intervene, but Damon shook his head sharply. Ric settled but even Damon could tell it was killing the bastard to do so. Heck, it was going against Damon's very being to let them grab him like this without putting up a fight. He couldn't fight though. He wouldn't allow himself.

"Tell Damon he better keep my house clean," he told Ric as he was led outside.

He caught Ric nod just as the doors shut. He was then led to a plain white van out of sight. There he was promptly staked in the chest. He was vaguely aware that whoever skewered missed his heart, but they didn't pull the stake out as he was shoved into the back of the van.

"We're going to have a lot of fun with you for what you did to Tori."

Damon didn't bother to figure out which one said that as he was staked again. He grunted as he noted the stake missed his heart again.. They weren't looking to kill Stefan. They wanted to torture him. That knowledge came to him just as his consciousness was fleeing. His eyes closed as he realized all this. The last thought he had before he let the black void have him was his brother. He had done a lot of things wrong by him and still the guy couldn't stop saving him, even when it cost him everything. He couldn't help but think this was fair. He used to protect his brother without a second thought, and he owed him that much now. Whatever was in store for him would be worth it. He would take his brother's punishment one last time. With that he finally let the blackness engulf him.


	2. Breaking News

**So I couldn't bring myself to end it there. This is officially a multi-chaptered story with much more to add. Though it will remain family centric there will be lots of romance too, mainly Stelena and Damon/OC. Please read and review. **

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><p>Stefan sat in the living room staring at the fireplace with his phone in his hand. Elena had just called his phone for the fifth time. He kept rejecting the calls, but each time got more and more difficult. He had no choice though. This was the best thing for everyone and he knew it. Of course that didn't mean he had to like it, but there wasn't anything he could really do about it. That was far from the only problem though. Stefan knew Elena. If she was being this persistent in calling him, she would soon give up and come down to the boarding house to confront him in person. As if to prove it, a sharp knock broke him out of his musing. Sighing in mild irritation, he got to his feet and answered the door. To his surprise, it wasn't Elena standing outside. It was Ric, and he definitely did not look happy.<p>

"I need to talk to you," Ric said, not skipping a beat. "May I come in?"

Stefan stepped aside so Ric could get inside. He then shut the door and went to pour Ric a glass of whiskey. He then handed it to her and sat down. Normally he would probably have avoided this, but the look on Ric's face was making that hard. The genuine worry was making Stefan to do the same. He hadn't really done much caring and worrying as of late but that didn't mean he wasn't capable of it. He just tried his hardest not to be.

"What's up?" he asked, keeping his tone impassive.

"Damon's gone," Ric answered as Stefan's phone started ringing.

"What do you mean gone?" Stefan asked as he answered his phone. "Elena?"

"Oh look," she said with irritated sarcasm. "Mr. I-Could-Care-Less remembers how to work his phone."

"I'm a li—" he began only to have the phone snatched from him by Ric.

"Elena, come down to the boarding house," he said. "You need to hear what I'm about to tell Stefan. We'll wait for you."

Stefan frowned slightly as he watched Ric hang up and set his phone on the table. He raised his eyebrow, but said nothing. He simply sat down on the couch and waited for Elena, knowing he wasn't going to get answers until she got there. He also knew that it had to be serious if felt the need to wait for Elena at all. Stefan just couldn't begin to guess what was going on. Damon being gone could mean anything. He could have left town on a whim. _He could be dead,_ a voice in the back of Stefan's head nagged. He tried to ignore that one. If his brother were dead, Ric would have just told him. He wouldn't have been so eager to wait for Elena. Right?

Stefan honestly didn't know, and the uncertainty started to eat at him in the awkward silence. After a while, he started to stare at his watch, watching the seconds tic by. He wasn't supposed to care. He didn't _want_ to care, but he couldn't deny that he hated the thought of something bad happening to his brother. Any other day, he probably would have simply brushed all this off. Damon had mildly lost his mind the night before, with the whole snapping an Original's neck and promptly bringing Rebekah home for some extra action and all. Stefan knew his brother. Both he and Elena had said and done things to Damon that night that hurt him. Damon only had one way to cope with pain. He bottled it up and replaced it with anger, vengeance. He rarely acted rationally in these situations. He was about to demand that Ric tell him what the hell was going on when the front door opened and closed. He looked up to see Elena approaching them.

"Okay, can you please tell me what the hell my brother's gotten into now that Elena has graced us with her presence?" he asked irritably.

"Damon's gone," Ric said. "We were at the Grill, playing pool. A small group of werewolves came in and he left with them."

"Why would Damon leave with a bunch of werewolves?" Elena asked.

"They were looking for Stefan," he said. "And they thought Damon was him."

"Why were they looking for me and why did they think Damon was me?" Stefan asked quickly.

"You apparently pissed them off, something about a sister you ruined or something. They didn't really explain. Damon simply just told them that he was you. They questioned him but eventually semi-dragged him out. I never saw him so . . . agreeable. I managed to get a picture before they left."

Ric took out his phone and began fiddling with the buttons. Stefan kept his eyes on the history teaching vampire-slayer, trying to ignore Elena. He knew she was looking at him. He could feel her gaze burning holes in the back of his head. He didn't have time to worry about her. He still wanted answers about his brother. Ric held out his phone after a few seconds, and Stefan took it to view the picture.

"I don't know them," he said, shaking his head and handing the phone. "The one in the middle does look vaguely familiar. If this is about a sister, the only thing I can think of is a time when Klaus had me find him a group of werewolves outside Mystic Falls. I found the girl alone, and took her to Klaus after she refused to tell me where her pack was. I guess he couldn't get it out of her either."

A scoff of irritation and disbelief left Elena's lips, making Stefan glance toward her just as she walked out of the room. He watched her leave, listening to her as she climbed up the stairs. He had no idea what she was doing or where she was headed. Brushing it off, he told himself it didn't matter. She would come back down eventually. If she didn't, he would go find her and convince her to go home. He turned his attention back to Ric.

"So my brother just said he was me and left with them?"

"More or less," Ric said, shrugging. "He just let them drag him off."

"Why the hell didn't you stop him?" Stefan snapped. "Why the hell would you let him do that?"

"He didn't give me much of a choice," Ric snapped back. "He had that look in his eye that said getting in his wasn't going to be merely stupid but also painful and/or deadly. He killed me twice already. Contrary to popular belief I really don't like dying."

"Where did they take him?"

"I don't know. Matt had been coming in for work and said that he saw a white van with no plates nearly run him over. I'm assuming that was their car. Look I'm gonna go and leave you to figure out what to do. Don't take too long. I'm not sure what they plan on doing but you know eventually they're gonna kill him."

Stefan nodded and watched as Ric left. He sat there for a few minutes, stewing in what he had just learned. Sure he had been expecting Damon to get himself into some mess or another, but he hadn't expected anything like this. After all, what Damon had just done for him was more something Stefan would have done. Damon hadn't taken the fall for Stefan since they were human and close. Closing his eyes, he cursed him for choosing this situation to play big brother.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Elena had gone to the bathroom to wash her face in an attempt calm down before she strangled her ex-. While in there she got an idea. She was going to save Damon. She didn't think Stefan cared enough to help his brother. Sure, he did a number of things that said he still cared about Damon, but there were things he had done that made her question it. She didn't know him anymore. Regardless of this, she wanted to find Damon and help him. She just didn't know how or where to start. Fifteen minutes of staring at herself in the mirror, she finally came to a decision. She frowned at her reflection for moment before taking her phone and texting Bonnie with: **Damon's in trouble, and we don't know where he is.**. She knew she would need her friend's help.

_**I might be able to track him with a spell, but I'll need something of his.**_Bonnie texted that back a few minutes later. Elena simply sent an okay and then headed for Damon's room. She went combed through his room and bathroom for anything that meant a lot to him but wouldn't be missed or detected by Stefan if she ran into him as she left for Bonnie's house. Her eyes eventually fell on the book next to a bottle of whiskey on the night stand beside his bed. She picked it up and read the title, _Call of the Wild. _She grinned as an idea struck her hard. She ripped a page out of the book, opened the bottle of Bourbon, poured a little in the empty glass, and dipped the paper in the glass. As she pocketed the wet piece of paper, she heard the door creak open. She down the whiskey grimace as she fought back the urge to cough.

"Were you just drinking my brother's whiskey?" Stefan asked.

"It was just a little bit," she said, shrugging as she tried to walk past him.

"Did you just go into his room so you could snag his liqueur?"

He let her pass him but followed her as she headed down the stairs. She tried to ignore him. She didn't want to waste time talking. It would only end in a fight, and she had better things to do. She needed to get to Bonnie's and find Damon. As she headed for the door, however, Stefan was suddenly blocking the way. His expression was serious as he stared her down with his arms crossed.

"Get out of my way, Stefan," she said, trying and failing to push him aside. "I have to go."

"You were just drinking and you expect me to let you drive home?" he asked.

"I'm not even buzzed," she argued. "I'll be fine."

Stefan simply rolled his eyes and grabbed her. As she struggled fruitlessly to get free, he searched her pocket until he pulled out the fragment of _Call of the Wild_. He let her go as he sniffed the paper. Then, he turned his attention back to her. He held the paper up so she could see it.

"What's this, Elena?"

"A piece of paper."

"I can see that but why do you have it and why is it soaked with whiskey?" he asked, only to come to the answer himself a few minutes later when she refused to answer. "You want to try and find Damon on your own, don't you?"

"No, Bonnie's helping me."

"The hell she is!" he exclaimed to her surprise. "You're not getting anywhere near this one."

"Okay, first, you lost the right to have say in anything I do the moment you broke up with me. Second, you made crystal clear that you don't _care_ about anything. So you don't get to dictate on what I choose to involve myself in, especially when I can't really trust you to help him."

The look that graced his features was downright shocking. She hadn't expected it. First, she thought she might have caught a glimpse of hurt in his eyes. Then, it changed too quickly to a look of such pure rage that she felt a moment of fear run up her spine. It too left his features, but not as quickly as the hurt had. With that he grabbed his opened the door and stepped aside so she could get out of the house. Much to her chagrin, he followed her out. She turned to glare at him and opened her mouth to snap only for him to beat her to it.

"You can save the argument," he said. "I'm not letting you get yourself killed for being stupid. The last thing I need is for everyone to jump down my throat because I just let you go off and do it. I don't need any further distraction from trying killing Klaus."

Elena just stood there with her mouth slightly open in shock as he said that. She knew she should have expected something like that, but she hadn't expected it to hurt so much. She also hadn't expected Stefan to sound so mean about it. She looked at him for a few minutes before she turned her back on him and headed for her car. She got into the driver's seat just as Stefan got in on the other side.


	3. It's Only Pain

When Damon came too, he found he was tied to a chair in a small room with no windows and very little light. He tried break free of the chains only to wince at the sharp sting that intensified with the movement. He looked down to see that his chain restraints had fresh vervain laced through the links. On top of that, he was pretty weak so he figured between the stakes and vervained chains a little extra vervain was coursing through his system. Couple that with lack of blood and you got one very weak and irritated Damon. Letting his head fall back he cursed his brother darkly. Then, he cursed Klaus and promised for the billionth time to kill the bastard. He still didn't know how, but he would.

A blast of extra light made Damon look up as the door opened. A man walked in, the brawny one of the three he had met at the Grill. The guy was the vindictive brother. Damon couldn't recall a name, though. Of course it didn't change a damn thing. He was still stuck there. As confident and arrogant as he could be, he knew that getting out of this would be a slim chance to none. Perhaps Ric figured he could help him. Maybe the history-teaching vampire hunter told Elena or Stefan what happened. The likelihood of him being found didn't seem high at all, and the way his brother had been acting lately made Damon think that the likelihood of him even getting off his ass to look was even slimmer than not.

"So how is it you walk in the daylight without getting all crispy?" the werewolf asked.

Damon simply just glared at him, keeping silent. He wasn't about to give away that one. The hand that carried his daylight ring fisted up instinctively, however. The werewolf missed it. He was too busy chuckling and walking off out of Damon's line of sight. Damon tried to see the guy over his shoulder but it was no use and so he gave up. He regretted it immediately when he felt white hot pain shoot through his right shoulder, causing him to scream. He looked down at it and scowled as he saw the tip of a poker sticking out of his shoulder.

"That the best you got, Scooby?" he mouthed off.

"We're just getting started," Dick said in his ear. "The nightmare is just beginning."

The poker was jerked harshly, causing sharp pain to shoot through his shoulder. Damon winced but this time he didn't make a sound. After a moment to compose himself, he let his head fall forward and laughed.

"Any nightmare you plan to dish out will be like a sweet dream to me," Damon hissed as the poker was harshly pulled out.

"We'll see about that," he said.

.X.x.X.x.X.

The drive to Bonnie's sucked. It wasn't that far from the Boarding House, but the silence was deafening. Stefan was sitting in the passenger seat, staring out the window just to avoid looking at Elena. He knew she was furious, and the lack of music or conversation made it so much more obvious. He deserved it, though. What he said crossed a pretty big line, even for him. She was upset and he tried his hardest to ignore it. It worked until the car came to a sudden stop, jerking him forward. He looked up to see they had come to a stop sign and a driver flipping them off as he passed.

"Jesus Christ, Elena!" he snapped, as started forward. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?'

"Shut up, Stefan," she retorted quietly.

He would have been happy to, but something in her tone stopped him. Elena was a strong girl, and he knew it, but her voice shook ever so slightly made him look over at her for the first time since they left his house. She wasn't crying and her eyes weren't watery. They were just not quite focusing where they needed to.

"Pull over," he said. When she shook her head, he just got more assertive. "Stop the car, Elena."

"No."

"You don't have a choice. We're switching seats. You almost wrecked, so just let me drive."

Elena sighed — clearly unhappy — and pulled over as she was told. Although when Stefan got out of the car, she hesitated for a moment. He then heard a click as he went around the back. The passenger side door shut and as he got to the driver's side he realized belatedly that she locked the door and hadn't moved. As he raised as an eyebrow, she looked forward and hit the gas, running right over his left foot. He felt his bones crush to bits painfully and growled in pain. To say he hadn't expected it was a horrible understatement. In all honesty, it wasn't something he ever thought Elena would do — not that he thought she crushed his foot on purpose.

.X.x.X.x.X.

"AHHHH!" Damon screamed in pain and a whole shit load of rage as the sharp pain in his side reached an unbearable level. "The more you bleed me, Dick, the faster I dry out and the faster you lose."

"Not if you get blood in your system every once in a while," he argued, pulling the jagged dagger out of Damon. "Now tell me how you walk in the sun without burning."

"Go to Hell."

That rewarded him with a punch to the face that nearly broke his jaw and made Damon bite his tongue hard. He looked up at the man and spit right in his face. Of course, the werewolf then stabbed him in the gut and Damon had to hold his breath to prevent himself from screaming again. As the blade was being twisted around in the wound, a large pounding came to the door. An irritated female voice screamed from the other door.

"Open up, Jace, or I'm coming in!"

Damon watched as Dick cursed and went to the door. He opened it and slipped through. Damon let himself relax slightly as he was left alone who knew how long. He welcomed the reprieve regardless, and took to listening to the two who had quickly got into an argument right outside.

"What the hell is so important, Tori?"

Damon's interest peaked at the girl's name. So this was the sister wolf that caused all the mess. She also had the power to worsen it if she saw Damon and blew his cover by telling her wonderful brother that he nabbed the wrong Stefan.

"Your little witch friend is starting to get on my nerves. So do something before I lose it."

"Fine," Jace cursed.

Footsteps told Damon one of them left. By the sound he had to guess that it Jace. He waited for the girl to follow, but a minute later the door opened to reveal a beautiful woman in her twenties. She had long blonde hair, and such a small frame that Damon was sure he could have snapped like a twig even as a human. She stared at him with an inquisitive gaze. He stared back at her and held his breath, certain that she was going to run to her brother to tell them of their mistake.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Elena glanced in the rearview mirror when Stefan didn't immediately get in front of her car and was shocked when she saw him sitting on the curb. He looked to be in so much pain that she was tempted to turn around, but she kept driving until reached Bonnie's house. To her relief, Bonnie was sitting on her porch waiting. She got out of the car and made her way toward her witchy friend.

"Okay so I have a question," she asked, pushing Stefan out of her head for the moment. "I couldn't exactly find something that I could hide from Stefan, but I did find his favorite book and a bottle of Bourbon. Would a page of the book dipped in the Bourbon work for the tracking spell?"

"Only one way to find out."

Bonnie had sat there in silence for so long that Elena feared she would say it wouldn't work. So when she shrugged, Elena let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Her relief was short-lived when she reached into her pockets and found nothing. A moment later, she remembered that Stefan had taken it from her. She cursed under her breath and shook her head — sitting down beside Bonnie.

"Stefan has it," she said.

"Where is he?" Bonnie asked, frowning.

Elena was about to answer when she saw him walking down the street. Well, it was more like hobbling. The limp was pretty bad as he tried to close the distance between them as quickly as possible. He wasn't even bothering to hide the fact he was in pain, and Elena knew he had run as fast as he could as far as he could before he had to slow down because of it.

"She left me in the middle of the road after she ran over my foot," he told Bonnie, holding out the whiskey-smelling piece of paper. "Good thing I'm not Damon, because he would have gone home and burned this just for spite."

"Elena!" Bonnie exclaimed in shock.

"It was an accident!" she exclaimed back before taking a deep breath. "I'm going to run inside and grab something to drink okay?"

When Bonnie nodded, she hurried inside and for the kitchen.

.X.x.X.x.X.

"What happened?" Bonnie much to Stefan's irritation.

"Stay out of it, Bonnie," he said, staring at the door and not the witch.

Elena had been inside a lot longer than she should have been so he figured the drink was just an excuse to get away from him again. Despite the fact that he had been fighting back most of his emotions ever since he got out of Klaus' grip, they sometimes crept up on him. It didn't surprise him that upon realizing Elena was avoiding him a sharp pang hit him fast and hard. He ignored it and simply pushed it aside, holding the damp piece of paper out for Bonnie to take.

"Don't concern yourself with Elena and me," he said. "Just find Damon so I can strangle him."

She took the paper and got to her feet with a roll of her eyes. He could tell she wasn't amused with his words. He didn't really care. He just turned around and took off. His foot was healed enough now that he could make it to the Boarding House without stopping. Right now, going home seemed to be the greatest idea in the world. He figured he'd rest a while and then call Bonnie if she didn't call him first for the location. He really doubted Elena would fill him in after their little fight.

He wouldn't blame Elena if she didn't. He certainly deserved worse. Sighing, he went to the liqueur cabinet and poured himself a glass of brandy and went up to his room. He shut the door, downed the drink, set the glass on his desk, and sat down on his bed. He took off his shoes and socks and looked at the damaged foot. It wasn't nearly as bad as it was in the beginning, but it was swollen and bruised. It still hurt like a bitch, and so he lied back on his bed and decided to take a nap. He couldn't do anything about Damon until he knew where he was and the longer he stayed off his foot the faster it would heal. A nap wouldn't do any real harm.

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><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed this one. Please review. Tell me what you think will happen and what you thought of poor Damon's situation. What about Stefan and Elena? As evil as I can be. They're all going to get their share of drama and torture. <strong>


	4. Can't Bend a Branch

Damon waited for the girl to turn around and run after Jace. He expected nothing less. Tori simply looked at him for a moment before shutting the door behind her and closing the distance between them. She narrowed her eyes and studied his face closely. He did the same. She was the complete opposite of Jace, whose hair was just a shade or two lighter than Damon's and his eyes were a sharp brown. The girl was like a little dainty ghost in comparison. The only thing that marked them as siblings were a few similarities in their facial structure.

"You are not Stefan Salvatore," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You don't look surprised," he stated, mimicking her tone.

"I saw them take you out of the van earlier. When I asked my brother he said you and your friend introduced you as Stefan. What I want to know is who are you and why are you protecting him?"

Damon just glared at her and remained silent. He hadn't fed that morning due to the fact he had wanted to get out of the house before he ran into his brother or even Elena. With the massive amount of blood loss, he was thirsty and irritable.

"I just want to help you," she assured him defensively.

"You and Stefan are the reason I'm here at all," he hissed harshly. "I neither need nor want your help. And the fact that your brother is the one _torturing _me, your offer is as reliable as Lucifer. I don't know you. I don't trust you. Go away."

She looked down at him with such a stricken expression that he almost felt bad for snapping. Almost, but he figured that she wouldn't feel as obligated to help him if she saw straight off the bat that he was an even bigger dick than his brother. He stared back at her, keeping a cold and uncaring expression on his face. Looking extremely crestfallen, her head dropped forward as she turned her back on him and left the room. He let his head fall back and stared at the ceiling. He wasn't there to be saved.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Whatever Tori expected to encounter when she met the Stefan imposter, it hadn't been anywhere near what she had received. He had been far colder than she ever thought possible. She hadn't wanted to make him angry. She just wanted to know how he knew Stefan. They had to be close for him to take his place. That much was obvious. She had considered everything from lovers to brothers to best friends.

"Tor, Tori!"

Blinking as she was brought out of her thoughts, she looked up at her brother. She hadn't even heard him come up to her as she was walking. Jace gave her a concerned look that she simply countered with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you all right?" he asked, frowning.

"I'm fine," she said. "I wish you would stop obsessing over what happened to me. It's over."

"The guy should pay!"

"All he was doing was following orders. I went with him on my own."

Jace opened his mouth to argue further, but Tori was done with it and just left him standing there. She loved her brother, but she couldn't deny that he was insane. Something in him had snapped when she came home as a hybrid. He still loved her, but there was something in his eyes that saw her as something else — something less. Instead of treating her like a pariah, however, he decided to take it out on the man who began it. He didn't understand that she didn't mind it. Unlike him she had hated having to turn.

This was so much better. She didn't have to turn. She didn't have to endure the excruciating pain. That was all that mattered to her. Of course, she was still getting used to having to drink blood, but in her opinion, it was all worth it. Jace just refused to hear her out. He was the one that looked at being a werewolf as a gift, not a curse. He had embraced it, where Tori feared it. Shaking her head, she made her way into her room and sat down at her desk where an assortment of rocks were spread out.

..x.X.

Elena watched Bonnie work her magic to find Damon with concern. They had been at it for an hour. Bonnie had said the spell should have taken no more than fifteen minutes. Neither Elena nor Bonnie wanted to give up, but when Bonnie's nose began to bleed, Elena's concern spiked up to alarm.

"Bonnie, stop!" she exclaimed. "Your nose is bleeding."

"The spell's not working," Bonnie said.

Elena watched as her friend grabbed a tissue and wiped the blood away. She pinched her nose and tilted her head back for a few minutes, looking shaken. Elena had a feeling it had very little to do with the nosebleed, but everything to do with why the spell wasn't working.

"What aren't you saying?"

"The spell is working for the most part," she said. "It's just that it's not finishing the link. There's no connection. It's almost like Damon vanished into thin air. Like I'm being blocked."

"What if it isn't a block? Would that mean he's dead?"

There was such a long hesitant pause that Elena really didn't need a real answer. She already knew it. When Bonnie nodded, Elena sat back and considered what would happen in that case. How would she handle him not being around? The more important question was Stefan. How would he take his older brother's death in this situation? Stefan was supposed to be the one in trouble with these werewolves or whatever. Damon had taken his place instead.

"I have to tell Stefan," she said, shaking her head and getting to her feet. "Get some rest and then try and find a way to find out for certain."

Bonnie nodded and Elena quickly left for the Boarding House. She was still upset with Stefan, but she knew how much he had cared about his brother. Granted, that was Old Stefan. She wasn't sure how much he still cared, but regardless of how mad she was at him for earlier, she still wanted to be there for him if he needed it or accepted it.

.X.x.X.x.X.

The incessant pounding of the front door, woke Stefan up. At first, he was going to ignore it. His foot still hurt, but then he remembered that Bonnie had been looking for Damon so he forced himself up only to here the door creak open. The voice that called his name, however, was not Bonnie. Curious, he rushed downstairs to see why she had come after their nasty exchange. He stopped instantly at the top of the stairs.

She was halfway up the flight, and her expression was somber, not furious. She froze and stared up at him like a doe caught in headlights, obviously caught off guard by his sudden appearance in front of her. He didn't say anything as she composed herself. He simply just waited, letting her take her time. He hadn't meant to startle her. After a moment, the look in her eye changed and she turned to go back downstairs. He hesitated a moment before following her to the living room.

She was seated on the couch, now biting her lip as if she were trying to think of the best way to break the bad news to him or figure out how he would react. He took a seat on the chair across from her and watched her patiently. Knowing her, if he tried to push, she would just shut down or snap at him. So he forced himself to wait until she was ready to talk. It didn't take too long, but she was still visibly upset and nervous.

"Bonnie couldn't find Damon," she finally admitted. "She tried four times before I made her stop because of a nosebleed."

"What's preventing her from finding him?" he asked."Your little makeshift tracker. His toothbrush would've worked better probably."

"No, the booze-soaked piece of _Call of the Wild _was not the problem. The connection was there but _he _wasn't. Like there was a road block or something missing."

Stefan tried to wrap his head around what that meant. He knew that she was trying to tell him something important. A part of him had a feeling he knew what it was. His mind simply refused to settle on the obvious. If there wasn't something blocking the connection, then that would mean the connection just couldn't be completed because the target wasn't on the other end. Only reason for that would be because it simply no longer existed. Stefan was brought out of his thoughts as he heard a sharp growling sound.

At first, he looked around in confusion — thinking it might have been Damon irritated for the lack of a rescue attempt. It was only proving that he was out of it when the growl came again by Elena. It was only then that he heard it for what it was. It was Elena's stomach. As the realization struck, he looked up at Elena's face just in time to see her reddened cheeks fade slowly fade back to normal. Disregarding her bashfulness, he raised an eyebrow at her.

"When was the last time you ate?" he asked bluntly.

"I split an apple with Bonnie at her house," she said defiantly.

"When was the last time you had an actual meal?" he pushed.

"Since when does it matter to you?" she snapped.

The words hurt him of course, but again, he deserved no less. He stopped pressing for a straight answer, though. A part of him noticed that she had deflected. He couldn't help but think she had spent too much time with Damon, and the jealousy peaked its head out for a moment. Pushing it back before he could even really feel it, he got to his feet and grabbed Elena by the arm. Ignoring her protests, he led her to the kitchen and sat her at the table. He ignored her questions as he took things out of the fridge and made her a sub sandwich. He set it in front of her with an ice cold can of Pepsi.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Jace didn't come back for hours. Damon sat there, counting seconds as they passed by. After a while a he lost count. One would think this would be the best part in a torture session. In reality, it was great for a maybe the first hour. After that, things got boring. Thoughts began to run around with no rhyme or reason. He couldn't get rid of them, and the worst part was that, several hours in, thoughts just started up on repeat. It was just one in particular, but one he hadn't thought of for a while.

He never really thought of his human life much. There was never any real point past Katherine. After he was turned, all he cared about was Katherine until he found out what a lying, manipulative bitch she was. When he wasn't obsessing over her, he was hating his brother too much to endure some sappy brotherly memory. Now, he couldn't stop. Though, it wasn't the first time in his vampire life that the memories crept up on him. The first time had been when he learned of the deal Stefan had made to save him. Then they resurfaced periodically, mostly when Stefan was being particularly nasty.

There was one memory that stuck out the most. It had been when their mother had just started showing her illness. Stefan had just turned nine, which made Damon about sixteen. Stefan had been the only one home with her. Giuseppe had taking Damon on an errand with him, so the youngest Salvatore watched his mother pass out on the way done the flight of stairs. By the time Giuseppe and Damon got home, Stefan was crying over her. She had hit her head but otherwise she had been fine.

Stefan had been the one in a mess, having witnessed the whole thing and not allowed to get the answers he needed. Their father was too busy barking orders at the servants to care that his youngest son was scared and confused. Damon had been worried as well, but he had wanted to comfort his distressed baby brother. So after a little coaxing, he managed to get the boy outside and on one of their mother's horses.

Damon had no destination. He just wanted a distraction for his brother, and he didn't return until it was almost dark. After he put an exhausted Stefan to bed, he took quite a beating from their father for having being gone all day and missing dinner. Damon hadn't cared, even exchanged a blow or two himself. Afterwards, he went to his room and got ready for bed, not surprised when Stefan sauntered in and crawled up on his bed without any explanation. Damon hadn't needed one. The look on Stefan's face had said it all. He was scared and didn't want to sleep alone.

Damon closed his eyes and pushed the memory away. It actually stung a little to recall it, because he knew Stefan wasn't that little boy anymore and he had failed the kid far too many times to be forgiven. He was brought back to reality as the door to his prison opened to reveal Jace and short little plump woman. Damon stared at the two blankly.

"I would like to introduce you to your new best friend," Jace sneered.

Damon didn't hear the name Jace said. In that moment, he was only aware of the pain that was caused by a witch setting his brain on fire.

* * *

><p><strong>Here it is. Hope you enjoy. Now I would like to point out one small little thing about my stories. They do have a little swearing in them, but I try to keep it cut down and in dialogue alone. This is not because I particularly like to put them in their but because the characters have even been known to use them a lot. I know some people find such words offensive, and I promise to keep it dialed down, but consider yourself warned. Mild language is used, especially since Damon likes to use certain words a lot of the time. Aside from that, this story isn't centered around bad words and I don't want it to be so if you can over look them to see the bigger picture THANK YOU. <strong>

**ON A MORE IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: I do love reviews. They tell me what I'm doing wrong or right, and i thank everyone who has given me one so far.**


	5. Not Right

1Stefan was going nuts. Bonnie hadn't found anything that could help them find Damon. Elena was officially avoiding him. It had been four days since he had seen his brother, and Stefan was pretty sure that was a bad thing. He wasn't allowing himself to obsess over it though. Damon was strong. He could take care of himself. This wasn't any different than all the other times. Stefan had to believe that he would be fine so that he could focus on Klaus and not the guilt that he wasn't willing to feel.

Still, that didn't stop him from getting into his car and driving aimlessly around town, looking for any sign of where his brother might have been taken. He found nothing, but nearly ran a girl over as she stumbled in front of his car out of nowhere. Luckily, his reflexes were impeccable so he managed to stop before he actually did hit her. It took him a moment to recognize her, but the moment she looked up, he froze. It was Elena. Upon realizing that, he got out of the car and walked over to her.

"Elena, what were you thinking?" he snapped. "I almost hit — Where are your shoes?"

He expected her to get angry or defensive. He was dead wrong. She looked down at her bare feet and giggled, throwing a lazy shrug into the mix. When he took a step toward her, she stepped out of his reach. It would have worked, but she stumbled over her feet and fell on her butt. He stared down at her for a moment as she giggled a little more.

"Is Ric home?" he asked, kneeling down to her level.

"Nope," she said, shaking her head and popping her 'P' as she spoke. She looked at him and frowned. "I don't like this light. Your eyes are dull and boring. If the light was better, they'd look prettier."

"Your drunk, Elena," he said, slightly amused.

"Am not."

Stefan sighed and scooped her up in his arms as he got back to his feet. He carried her back to his car and put her in the back seat before he dialed Ric. He didn't get an answer. The phone went straight to voicemail. He left a message that Elena would be at the Boarding House and needed to be picked up, but doubted that Ric would check it any time soon. He got into the car and headed home. He tried to ignore the fact she was staring holes into the back of his head as he drove, though. He pulled into the driveway and then helped her out of the car and into the house.

Stefan watched her out of the corner of his eye the entire time, catching her and steadying her almost instinctively as she stumbled to the door. When she tripped going inside, he decided it would be best to carry her. So he picked her up and headed upstairs to put her to bed, deciding on the closest spare room and making sure it was one with its own bathroom. He laid her down on the bed and went over to the dresser. It hadn't been used in years but maybe there would be something for her to wear. There was nothing in the drawers and nothing in the closet. He headed for the door only to pause as Elena let out a scoff.

"Why are you even bothering?" she said, causing him to turn a confused expression to her. "I'm cursed you know. I have to be. It's the only thing that explains why all this bad stuff happens to me."

He watched her. Her words and the way she said them shocked him. It didn't sound like she was pitying herself. It was as if she were talking about something as insignificant as the weather. It was like she had realized this a long time ago and had come to terms with it.

"What are you talking about, Elena?"

"I'm a death sentence," she said as if that were the obvious answer. "I mean I'm the reason my biological and adoptive parents and Jenna died, and then other's are gone. You left me, and I sent Jeremy away. Now, Damon."

Stefan sighed and left the room as she continued to rant. He went into his room and dug out a long shirt from one of his drawers, finding a pair of Elena's sweats in the process. He stared at them for a moment before taking them out and bringing them back with him.

"Now why do you suddenly come back?" she asked. "You don't care anymore. I shouldn't be here. I need to go home."

"No, you need to sleep it off," he said. "C'mon, Lena. Let me get you into something comfortable"

When she didn't say anything but didn't move to fight him off, he sat down next to and changed her into the clothes he had picked out for her. He let her ramble and rant until none of it made much sense and tried to ignore the increasing guilt as he got her under the covers. She met his gaze for a moment, and Stefan had to look away for a moment. He had never seen her this drunk before, certainly never this emotional at least. Damon's absence had obviously taken its toll on her defenses. The knowledge and realization brought a wave of jealousy out as he looked at her for a moment before he got to his feet.

"Don't go," she pleaded. "I just don't want to be alone anymore."

Stefan looked at her and sighed. He should shake his head, tell her no, and go back to his room. He was about to when he met her eyes. He let his head drop in defeat before he let her pull him onto the bed. Still he tried to keep his distance from her. He watched her eyes gradually close and watched her sleep, curled up against him, as the guilt increased. When he was sure that she was out cold, he got off the bed and went to his room to fall asleep on his own bed.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Damon groaned in protest as the bag of blood was ripped out of his mouth. It was empty but he was still starving. He looked up at Tori and gave her a small smile of thanks. Jace had quite a little schedule that went something like this: torture, more torture, witchy torture, even more torture, break, and cycle begins again. The break wasn't really a reprieve for Damon. It was simply more torture to wait for the torture. The break was strictly to give Jace some shut eye so he could find new ways to torture Damon.

Starvation would have probably been a form, but Tori would sneak in when her brother was out and feed him a bag or two of blood. It was never enough to counteract the injuries or vervain, but enough to keep him from drying out or something.

"I better go before he wakes up and gets down here," she said. "I wish you'd tell me who you were or where Stefan is so I can find him and help you."

She had been trying to convince him to let her help him escape, but he wouldn't listen. He was going to stick this out, but Tori made it so much more bearable. He was doing this all for Stefan, though. There was no way he was going to give it away. He was amazed that Tori was honoring that. She just argued here and there. She didn't want Stefan tortured either, though, so it was only half-hearted. He watched as she left and sighed, closing his eyes and trying to sleep some.

A sharp pain hit him hard, making his eyes snap open as he screamed. He looked around, expecting to see Jace. He did, but the witch was also standing beside him. Damon swallowed convulsively at their expressions. They both looked like Caroline when she was about to spill the latest gossip. That was never really a good thing either so he was worried.

"Who are you?" Jace asked.

Damon said nothing. His mind raced and ran circles. He knew. Somehow he found out, and his thoughts immediately jumped to Tori. He was certain she had betrayed him. It didn't add up though. Why wouldn't she be there to gloat, and why would she have waited so long.

"Samia, here, saw something strange yesterday," he explained. "She says you aren't who you say. You either tell me now or she'll pull the truth out of you."

When Damon still said nothing, Jace nodded to the witch. Damon watched her approach him and spit in her face, knowing that was the best he could do but wishing he could drain her dry instead. The moment that thought came, however, it was pushed aside by the excruciating pain in his head. It didn't feel like the blood vessel-popping thing like he was used to. This pain was worse, like his brain was being ripped and shredded.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Elena groaned as she woke up with a massive headache. She opened one eye, expecting to be in her bed in her room and staring at her clock. There was no alarm clock on the night stand. Frowning, she sat up and looked around. There was nothing immediately familiar about the room, but the feel of it seemed to carry the familiarity. She frowned and got out of bed, wincing as the headache kicked up a notch as she went to the door. A big part of her was nervous. Did she get picked up by some strange psychopath? When she turned the knob and found she wasn't locked in, she relaxed and opened the door to find a familiar hallway that told her she was at the Boarding House.

She headed for the kitchen only to pause. Did they even have aspirin? Sighing, she turned and went toward Stefan's room. She knocked on the door and waited. When he didn't answer she opened the door and poked her head in.

"Stefan?"

Still no answer, and at first she thought that he was just asleep. She turned around to go in search of pain killers herself, only to stop when she heard a moan. She turned back to look at him and frowned. She had assumed he was sleeping peacefully, but really looking at him and the way he suddenly jerked and tossed, told her he was dreaming and it definitely was not a pleasant one. Against her better judgment, she closed the distance between them.

Leaning over the bed, she shook him awake lightly. At first, nothing happened. When she shook him a little harder, however, his arm shot out and his hand went around her throat. She barely had time to let out a gasp as he pinned her to the bed. She grabbed his wrist tightly and studied his face. His eyes were open a little but glazed and unfocused. She could tell he wasn't awake, at least not enough to where he knew what he was doing. The veins around his eyes were raised and his fangs were peaking out from under his lip. His grip started to shift from uncomfortable to painful.

"Stefan!" she exclaimed, tugging at his wrist. "Wake up! It's me, wake up!"

It took a little bit of pleading, but eventually, he blinked and his gaze focused on her. He stared down at her for a moment, stunned. She stared back up at him, mesmerized by how quickly he visibly calmed. His vamp face vanished and he loosened his grip on her. His green eyes shifted from her face to her neck, and she could see him swallow visibly before he got off the bed and put as much space between them as he could without leaving the room.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked.

"I wanted to know if you had some aspirin," she said. "My head's killing me."

"Kitchen cabinet above the right side of the sink."

She nodded and headed out of his room and for the kitchen. She tried to ignore the way he stiffened as she passed him, but it still hurt her a little.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Tori hadn't thought the screaming would ever stop, but eventually Stefan's friend must have passed out or Jace had gotten what he wanted. Tori had been sitting outside by her favorite tree and had heard it all. In fact, it had been so loud that it had woken her up that moment when Jace had started. He had been at it for hours now. When the screaming finally stopped, Tori caught the door opening. Not wanting to be caught, she hid herself behind the tree as Jace began to speak to Samia.

"So Stefan is still somewhere in Mystic Falls," he was saying. "And we have his brother here. When you finish extracting all your information from him what state will be in?"

"That depends. He won't be functional, but whether it is temporary or permanent will depend how hard a fighter he is," she said.

"Do your best to make sure this is permanent. The guy is irritating and want to shake up this Stefan character."

"Jace," a new voice said, making Tori peek out to see it was Eli. "He's here again."

Tori frowned at the cryptic words and the nasty tone. Eli was usually a sweet guy. He didn't normally speak dislike anyone so hearing the blatant hatred in his voice made Tori wonder who her brother was meeting with. She brushed the thought off when she saw similar disgust on his face.

"Eli, tell him I'll be right there," Jace said. "Samia, keep working on the vampire. Be sure to get more information out of him before you completely fry him. Tori, you can come out now."

Tori cursed and stepped out to glare at him. She wasn't even going to try to hide the fact she was spying. She simply crossed her arms and glared at him. She was so sick and tired of all of this.

"Who are you meeting with?" she asked. His silence made her scoff and add with venom, "You are an ass. What you're doing is sick and wrong."

She didn't wait for a reply. She just walked off with one thing on her mind. She had to find Stefan and tell him what was going on. She was tired of this side of her brother.


	6. She's Right On Time

Stefan hung up his phone and tossed it on his bed. He had been calling Ric nonstop ever since he woke up. After an hour and a hours of dialing and re-dialing, he finally got the guy to answer. It was useless, though. Ric wasn't in Mystic Falls. Instead, he had decided to go out of town with Dr. Fell in hopes of finding Damon. Ric wasn't going to be back for a while, leaving Stefan alone with Elena.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. He couldn't shake off what had he had done. As if biting Elena and threatening to drive her off the Wickery Bridge hadn't been bad enough, he just very nearly killed her because of some stupid dream that she had woke him up from. This was just another reason for him to stay away from her. He knew it, but Ric having gone out of town and Elena's car being god knows where, that didn't seem like it would happen any time soon.

Sighing, he called Caroline. There was no answer. He tried Matt. He answered, but refused to come pick Elena up and drop her off at home. He was on his way to the Grill. When he tried to get Bonnie to come get Elena, she was less subtle.

"I'm still trying to find Damon," she told him irritably. "I'm not picking her up. Besides, you two need to actually have a conversation at some point. Why not today?"

"Because there isn't going to be any conversation, Bonnie," he snapped, equally irritated.

"Then I guess she'll be stuck there with you all alone and you will just have ignore her until Ric gets back.

Stefan opened his mouth to argue but shut it as the line cut off. Bonnie had hung up on him. Sighing, he put his phone on his desk. He took out his journal and just stared at the blank page. So much was running through his head that he couldn't even begin to sort it out and put it on paper. He thought of his brother and how out of character this had been for him. Most of all, he thought about Elena. He thought of things that he tried his hardest not to remember.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Damon groaned and let himself slump on the floor of his prison. Once it was obvious he was to weak to do anything they freed him from the chair. He was now chained to the room with a little roaming room, not that he could do much. It also was no blessing. No it gave Jace more places to injure him. He took pleasure in it, too, and just finished a session of whipping him with a vervain-soaked whip. Of course it couldn't be just any normal single-tailed whip. No, Jace just had to use a cat o' nine tails.

"So where is the real, Stefan?" Jace asked, bringing Damon out of his creative imagery of what he would like to do to the man.

"I'm not really sure," Damon quipped. "Have you tried sticking your head up your ass? He might just be up there and around the corner."

"Last chance," Jace said. "Where is Stefan?"

Damon slowly raised his head up to Jace to glare at him. As the guy's lips slowly turned up into a smirk, Damon reared back and spit right in the guy's face. Jace didn't take very kindly to that, and brought the multi-tailed whip across his back. Damon couldn't help but scream out in pain, but it was quickly followed by a string of very colorful insults in every language he knew.

"Samia, I guess you really will have better luck than me," Jace said, glancing over his shoulder at his witch friend.

Damon did and said nothing as she approached him. He knew the unbearable pain in his skull would be next, and he had no way to stop it. So he closed his eyes and bit his tongue. The pain hit him hard, of course, but he made no sound. He actually held his brother until he passed out from the lack of oxygen.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Stefan finished the last sentence of his latest journal entry just as Elena knocked on his bedroom door. He took his time - closing his journal and putting it away. When he was satisfied that it was out of sight, he took another moment to debate on what to do. In the end, he decided to see what she needed and not just tell her to go away and leave him alone. Instead, he opened the door and looked at her patiently.

"What do you need?" he asked, frowning as he took in her odd expression. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she replied quickly. "There's a girl here looking for you. She said it was important that she talks to you."

Stefan's frown deepened as he tried to make sense of her expression. It dawned on him just a moment later. She was fighting a spout of jealousy. He had watched that same expression cross her face a number of times when they spoke of or to Katherine. He just couldn't figure out why she would be feeling that way. He didn't question her. He simply slid past her and headed down the stairs to find a familiar-looking girl in the foyer. He froze in his spot and stared at her blankly.

"I know you," he said stiffly. "I sent you to Klaus. You're one of his hybrids."

The girl nodded and rocked a little on the balls of her feet. Stefan watched her closely, not immediately trusting her. He remembered her well enough. She was the reason his brother had been taken. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She was the reason someone decided to hunt him down and pick up the wrong guy.

"The name's Tori," she said.

He simply nodded. He wasn't in the greatest mood to sit and talk to one of Klaus' flunkies. Still there was a nagging feeling in his gut that told him Klaus was probably not even a remote reason for this little visit. He opened his mouth to demand she tell him why she was there or to leave, but the words had no time to form because a flash of movement off to the side stole his attention. He looked up just in time to see Elena slip into the room. She eyed the girl and crossed her arms, but stayed silent.

"If you are here on the behalf of Klaus you can leave now," he said firmly.

"I'm not," Tori said. "I'm here for your friend."

"What friend?"

Stefan frowned as Elena asked that. He was wondering the same thing. He had many friends and many enemies, but he couldn't think who would send a hybrid for him. It really didn't make sense, especially if they really were a friend. Currently he and his friends weren't very big fans of hybrids. Granted, most of his friends weren't big fans of him either. He didn't blame them in the least for that. It was his fault none of them trusted him anymore anyway. He knew that.

"The one pretending to be Stefan," Tori said. "My brother found out he isn't who says he is, and he's gone crazy about finding out the truth. Your friend won't budge though and I'm afraid my brother will lose patience. He won't even tell me his name."

"Gee, I can't imagine why," Stefan hissed acerbically. "After all, I doubt your brother is showing him a hospitable atmosphere. No, this was all about a perverse desire for revenge, wasn't it?"

"What the hell is your problem?" she snapped. "I was no part of this. I came here to let you know what is happening so you can help your friend."

"He's not my friend," Stefan snapped back. "Your brother happens to have mine. Now stop jerking my chain and tell me what the hell is happening to him."

.X.x.X.x.X.

Elena frowned as she watched the two exchange words. Stefan was livid in such a way that Elena had never really seen before. The girl seemed to just be genuinely upset, and when she found out that it wasn't simply a friend of Stefan's in trouble, she looked even worse. She was trying to assure Stefan that she had nothing to do with any of it and was only trying to help Damon. The worst part was what the girl told them about Damon's physical state and well-being.

"Where is he?" Stefan asked, practically growling.

"I can't tell you," she said, shaking her head. "You'll just kill everyone including my brother and he's all I got left."

"So you're just going to let him kill mine!" he exclaimed angrily.

"No, that's the last thing I want," she rushed. "I don't mind being a hybrid. I actually enjoy it, but my brother hates what I am, and most of all I really want to help your brother. I just want to do so in a way that no one gets hurt any more than they all ready."

Elena watched Stefan curiously. She could tell he wanted to argue, and she thought she understood why. She wanted to argue as well. It didn't seem fair that Damon was imprisoned and beaten and they could possibly get him back but his abuser would go unpunished. Still, revenge was rarely ever a good course of action. It definitely shouldn't be the main thought running through anyone's head. They should just worry about getting Damon back in one piece and alive.

"Stefan," she said, delaying whatever further verbal attack he was gearing up for. "Let's just get Damon back before we worry about anything else. Please?"

Something flashed in Stefan's eyes, but it was gone before Elena could place it. A moment later, he nodded and sat down on the couch. As Tori shot Elena a grateful smile, she sat down on the chair opposite of Stefan. That left the free spot on the couch, and Stefan seemed to have realized that at the same time Elena had. She was very well aware of his sudden rigid state, but tried to ignore it as she sat down beside him. He didn't relax again, so after a moment of awkward silence, Elena spoke to Tori.

"So what's your idea of getting him back without anyone dying?"

"Simple," she said, shrugging. "I get my brother to take him to his death."

Before Stefan could lose it completely, the girl continued with a detailed version of her plan. She even elaborated on how she would get her brother to kill Damon too.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Tori got home rather late that night. So late that Jace was no longer torturing Stefan's brother. She had learned from her chat with Stefan that his name was Damon. She slipped inside her old playhouse where she kept her bags of blood and grabbed a couple before heading into Jace's little torture shack. She found Damon curled up on the floor in an unconscious heap and slowly closed the distance between. Unlike most other times, he didn't wake to the sound or move at all. This worried her a great deal as she knelt down beside him.

"Damon?" she whispered, opening one of the bags and letting the blood drip into his mouth. "Wake up."

Nothing happened and she couldn't even tell if he was even swallowing the blood. She could tell he was alive thanks to some involuntary twitches here and there. She sat there for about a half an hour before she gave up. The entire bag she had emptied into his mouth was gone. Whether it was in his stomach or on the floor was questionable. She frowned down at him and caressed his filthy cheek. Even covered with dirt and blood, she couldn't deny that he was a gorgeous creature. She got to her feet with a sigh and left to find her brother. It was time to return Damon to his brother and friends.

* * *

><p><strong>It's been a while, but I really hope you enjoyed this update. Reviews are muchly appreciated and the next update will hopefully be up soon. I know you are all probably hating me for what I'm doing to poor Damon. I hate myself to.<strong>


	7. Burn, Baby, Burn

_**July 31, 1863**_

_Today could not have been worse. Father and Damon had been fighting again. Of course it has been an ongoing occurrence for a week. I have failed in finding out what the fighting has been about. Father just brushes it off as Damon being an insolent child instead of a grown man. Damon usually just changes the subject. It was not until after their most recent fight that I found. I had been fortunate enough to experience the aftermath of the fights. That cold, telltale silence and curt words here and there where the moment dictated that they were forced to talk to each other. Tonight, I came home in the middle of the actual fight. _

_Neither of them knew I had come in, and they continued to shout and scream. It was then that I found out what the fight was about. Father demanded that Damon go off and join the war. When I asked Damon again about what the fighting was about earlier, he tried to brush it off. When I told him that I had heard, he finally explained. In two weeks, Father wants him to join the confederate army and despite Damon not wanting to go, he won't take no for an answer._

_I cannot say for sure how exactly I feel about this. I do know that the idea of him leaving worries me, especially since the possibility of him dying in battle is very real. It just hasn't sunk in yet. Not really anyway. Damon has always been there for me. The thought of him not is a strange one. _

Stefan stared at the entry impassively. Ric hadn't come to get Elena yet so she was staying another night. He had been talking to Bonnie about halting the locator spell, begging Ric to get back, and basically finding every reason to avoid Elena. Eight o'clock came around, and he noticed that the house was eerily quiet. Elena had been restless most of the day. He had been hearing her moving around without stopping. She had been pacing around the house like a caged animal. At one point, he actually caught her cleaning. It was an odd sight considering the house wasn't messy at all.

When the lack of noise ceased, he had figured she had gone outside for fresh air. That had been hours ago. He went to look for her and found curled up on the couch with a book open on her chest. She was asleep. He only realized it wasn't a book at all when he went to put her to bed. She had managed to get hold of one of his journals. Startled he had sat on the chair and read the entry it was opened to. He always hated how drastically his relationship with his brother changed. He tried not to think back to when they were nearly inseparable, but he always failed. Reading this entry now, he failed again. He shut the journal and set it aside just as his phone rang. He answered it quickly not wanting to wake Elena.

"Hello," he said quietly.

"Stefan, it's Tori," she said. "I managed to convince my brother that leaving him to burn is the best way to kill him, make him suffer. He's going to leave him out by a clearing in woods, staked to the ground for sunrise. Tonight."

"Where's the clearing?" he asked, eyes pinning his sleeping ex- as he wondered if he should wake her up.

"Near the Falls. Call me and let me know if he's all right when you get him home."

Stefan was about to tell her off. Why was it any of her business if his brother came out of this in one piece? He couldn't ask because the line went dead. He stared at Elena for a moment and decided waking her would be cruel, especially if Damon really wasn't okay. If he was fine, she would wake up with some good news in the morning. He moved her to the room he gave her the night before, and called Caroline to stay with her. Bonnie probably could have worked but it would probably require her lying to her father. Caroline could tell her mother the truth without worry.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Damon woke with a start at the sound of the door to his hell hole opening. He opened his eyes just in time to see Tori with her daily blood bags. He eyed the bags and closed his eyes as his mouth watered. He was extremely thirsty, but he knew it wasn't going to be quenched. Tori tried to help, but her brother had made certain that the few bags she could manage to give him were never enough to do much help. He had stopped healing properly and was barely able to lift his head he was so weak. He hated it — feeling so helpless.

"Why do you keep helping me?" he asked, no louder than a whisper as he watched her kneel in front of him. "What's the point in it?"

"You don't deserve this," she said. "No one does. C'mon, Damon, drink up."

He froze at the sound of his name on her lips and let his eyes drift to her face. He knew she was smart, but he had never believed that she could possibly figure it out. He wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or scream. Instead, he took to drinking the blood she began pouring into his mouth. Despite knowing it was useless, he was still thirsty and drank so greedily that he made more of a mess than he actually swallowed. The second bag was easier. He drank slower and didn't make a mess. The blood did nothing to help him, though. When he was done drinking, he went limp and closed his eyes.

"How'd you figure it out?" he asked.

"I went to find your brother," Tori said and he could hear the smile in her voice. "I can't say I was surprised to find out that you were related to him."

"You . . . shouldn't have. He's . . . a moron with a hero complex."

"Hush," she chided and slapped lightly him upside the head, making his eyes pop open in surprise. "He's your brother and neither of you deserve this."

He chuckled at her words until he started coughing. No one talked like that to him. Well, his friends weren't included. Tori on the other hand was still barely more than an acquaintance. _An acquaintance that is stubbornly trying to save you,_ he reminded himself silently. That shook him up a little. He still didn't want to be saved. He was doing this to protect his brother.

"Keep him away from hear," he ordered so low that he didn't even know if she heard him.

He didn't have time to find out as the cold darkness swallowed him whole. He knew nothing after that.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Tori watched him sleep for a few moments before she heard footsteps approaching the shack. Panicking, she stuffed the empty blood bags in her backpack and hid in the empty closet. A minute later, she heard the door open. She held her breath and waited, knowing who it was.

"Samia, whatever reasons my sister has for bringing the idea to me she has a point," Jace said. "There's not much left to do to him. He's run out his usefulness. But letting him burn in the sun seems fitting enough of a way to dispose of him."

"What if she has tricked you into saving him?" the witch asked.

"That's where you come in. I'm always one step ahead."

Tori frowned as the two laughed. There was some rustling before Samia began to chant in Latin. Tori wished she knew what they were doing, but they said nothing and a minute later she heard them leave. She waited a few more minutes and stepped out of the closet to find the room entirely empty. Damon was gone. Frowning, she left the shack and headed for the garage. She got into her car and drove off.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Stefan pulled parked the car and got out just as Liz pulled up in hers. He watched her pop the trunk and get out of the car. He watched as she opened the trunk and pulled something out of it.

"Tell me again why you need a body bag," she said, holding it out for him.

"Because the sun's almost up and from what I been told, my brother won't be protected from it," he explained taking the bag. "I needed something to block the rays until I can get him home and out of the light."

"So I don't have to worry about a missing person?" she asked.

"Liz, I don't have time for this. If I don't find him, my brother is going to die."

"All right, tell Caroline to call me when you get back so I know if she's gonna come home."

He nodded in agreement but made no more attempt at conversation. To his pleasure, she nodded and shut her trunk. She then got back in her car. It had taken a while before he Caroline had finally gotten to the Boarding House. He had called and explained what was going down. It had been her idea to get her mom to bring him the body bag so she had to convince her mom to do so. That actually took a while. Then Caroline arrived at the house and told him to head off and that Liz would meet him by the falls.

He looked up at the sky and sighed. The sun would be up any second so he really had to hurry. He just hoped Tori still planned on helping him. If not, he would find her and kill her and her brother himself. He began walking the rest of the way to the Falls, keeping his senses open for Tori and was relieved to find her waiting on the bridge.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Damon woke up the moment he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He opened his in time to see Jace pushing a thick stake through him and into the ground. He groaned in pain and glared as the werewolf turned slightly just to slip Damon's ring off. He growled pathetically and tried to no avail to get up and lunge at him. Jace noticed and simply laughed at him as he tied a string to the ring and then tied it to the nearest tree. For a small clearing the tree was very close.

"Whatever you are to Stefan Salvatore, he's no doubt trying to find you," Jace sneered. "Have no doubt that he will eventually come here. You will just be ash, but don't worry I'll make sure he knows he found you."

"Go to hell," Damon growled.

"Nope that's where you're headed."

Damon growled again, but the ferocity ended on a cough attack that turned into groans of pain. Jace laughed at this and then left Damon to watch the sky lighten. All he could do was stare up at the starry night and wait. He knew this was it. He was going to die and not fast and peaceful. He was going to burn. He knew the feeling all too well. The sun had been his suicide of choice after Tyler Lockwood bit him. Stefan played hero and put that to an end, though.

His closed his eyes and thought about that. He should have kept his mouth shut. He should have never told Stefan about the bite. None of this would have happened. He would be dead already but at least everything would have been how it should be. Stefan would have the girl without worrying about the next shitty thing bitter and crazy Damon was plotting to do to him. Klaus would have left the town alone.

Swallowing he opened his eyes again. This was the part he hated most — the last few minutes where he waited for Death to take him. It forced him to think about everything. It forced him to regret most of his actions when he didn't want to feel anything at all. Life was so much simpler without his emotions. The funniest part was that when he had the chance to think about all the shit that had happened, he didn't regret much. It wasn't really about that. The stuff that bothered him most was the fact he had to admit he really did care about his brother. He actually missed their old relationship, but he knew that so much had been exchanged that going back to that was never going to happen — even if Damon wasn't about to die.

Watching the sun rise would have been awesome had the stinging pain not have come with it. He took a deep breath and held it as the sting turned to a burning pain and just continued to intensify. After a few minutes, he couldn't hold it in. He began to scream, knowing no one was there to hear him. No one was there to save him. He didn't care. He preferred it that way. As long as he did something right he didn't have to care. That was all that really mattered in the end. Perhaps if he tried to hold out a little longer, he would have realized he was no longer alone, that the stakes were being pulled out of him. By the time the pain stopped, however, Damon had already passed out from it.

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><p><strong>Okay I hope you liked this update. I loved all my reviews for chapter 6. Thank you so much. Speaking of which, Jess, your review amused me the most because I know what you mean. Don't worry though. I won't let the girls come between them. It's not going to happen. <strong>


	8. Mistakes and Deals

**Sorry for the late update but here it is. It's kinda short but I hope you like it all the same.**

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><p>Stefan was surprised to find that he didn't need the body bag after all as he caught his brother's glistening from the nearby tree. So he had slipped the ring on his brother's finger where it belonged and took him home. He ignored Caroline as she met him on the stairs and began fussing. Well, he tried to ignore her, but of course she wouldn't let him do that.<p>

"Elena's still asleep and is he going to be all right?" she asked. "Do you want me to help?"

"It's fine, Caroline," Stefan said. "I got him. Call your mom and tell her you're on your way home."

She looked like she wanted to argue with him, but as he stared at her, she simmered down and walked off. He was relieved about that. He just didn't have the energy to deal with the hyperactive blonde. He carried Damon to his room and cleaned him up. He checked and dressed the wounds that were still bleeding pretty badly, and then, he turned for the door to get him the bags of blood that Damon so desperately needed. He didn't get that far though. Elena was standing there with about six or seven bags.

"How is he?" she asked.

"What are you doing up?" he deflected as a very abashed Caroline joined them.

"I tried to get her back in bed," Care said.

"He's out cold," he finally said, taking the bags. "Why don't you go home with Caroline?"

Elena opened her mouth only to shut it and nod. She had looked like she really wanted to argue. Stefan could only assume that there had been something in his expression that stopped her. Whatever it was, he was grateful for it. He watched the girls leave and shut the door when they were out of sight. He then turned back to Damon and began to feed him.

At first, nothing happened. Very slowly, however Damon woke up and began drinking the bags. Stefan watched him chug all of them down in desperate gulps. By the last one, Damon had gotten a little energy back and appeared to be healing properly once more. Damon had laid back and stared at Stefan for a moment.

"What idiotic thing did you do now?" he shot out.

"Me?" Stefan scoffed. "I'm not the one who let myself get tortured and nearly killed for something my brother did."

.X.x.X.x.X.

"Well, I called my mom," Caroline told Elena. "Obviously. She said she'll pick us up."

"Okay," she said. "You think Damon will be all right?"

Caroline looked at her and then toward the stairs. Elena saw the concern on her face. While Stefan hadn't let her see Damon, Caroline had gotten the chance. She hadn't said a word except that he needed a heap of blood, though. So, Elena could only imagine how bad their friend was.

"Well, Stefan seems to be closer to well-adjusted than to scary so I don't think Damon's dead or dying," Care said eventually then paused. "Mom's pulling up. Let's go."

"Bye Stefan!" the girls called loud enough to be heard as they headed out.

Liz had just honked the horn of her car as they opened the front door. Elena smiled a little and got into the back seat. She couldn't say she was happy though. She was much more worried than anything as she stared out the window. She frowned a little as she caught sight of Stefan watching them from Damon's bedroom window. She couldn't deny she was worried about him.

"So, Stefan found Damon then?" Liz asked as she drove home.

"Yeah, he did, Mom."

"Is he all right?"

Caroline just shrugged and Elena zoned out to silently worry about Stefan and Damon. She just hoped that Damon really was going to be okay. She doubted that Stefan would be able to handle it if he wasn't. For all of Stefan's recent faults, he had never stopped caring about his brother. So, she knew that Stefan would be an irreparable wreck if Damon was unable to saved.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Damon watched Stefan stare out the window and raised an eyebrow when he turned back to him and began fussing over the healing wounds. If Damon wasn't still exhausted and a little nervous, he would have snapped. As it was, Stefan hadn't answered him when he asked what he had done to save him. It made Damon wonder what deal was struck in his favor.

"Stefan, what did you do?" he asked again.

Stefan looked over to him with a raised eyebrow, but to Damon's dismay, he didn't immediately answer. That worried him some. Damon knew his brother better than anyone, and this was just the sort of thing Stefan did. He sacrificed himself for the people he cared about. Even when he was stuck on angry vengeance, he still just had to be the hero. The silence from Stefan seriously irritated him. So, he glared at him steadily and waited. There was one way to get answers from his brother and that was staring him down relentlessly.

"You made quite a friend," Stefan finally said reluctantly. "She did all the work. I just brought you home."

Damon stared at him with confusion for a moment. He couldn't understand his tone at first. There was the guilt in his voice, but that didn't make sense. If no deal was struck and he was safe, why was his brother bothered. He groaned in frustration.

"What's the problem?" he asked. "If you didn't make some stupid deal and I'm back here, why are you extra broody?"

Stefan had looked down at his feet, making Damon think back to their human days. Stefan only acted like this when he felt he let everyone down, particularly when he let their good-for-nothing father down. Sure the guy carried a similar look of shame as a vampire for things such as making Damon hate him. He hadn't seen Stefan at this degree of shame for decades. Damon didn't push for an answer. He simply waited as patiently as he could. Eventually, Stefan finally looked up at him to reveal the crushed expression Damon wrongfully assumed he was ready to see. He wasn't, but he said nothing.

"I couldn't even find you," he said barely above a whisper. "I had to rely on the help of a complete stranger. I couldn't do anything to help you. The worst part of it is that the only reason I probably couldn't was because I wasn't entirely focusing on your safety. Getting back at Klaus was still up there."

"Stef—"

"Let me finish," he interrupted. "The only reason I even bothered is because Klaus is nowhere to be found, and you were a decent distraction."

Damon sighed and shook his head. He wasn't disappointed. He was just glad Stefan hadn't done something stupid. In fact, he had been counting on his obsession with Klaus. Damon hadn't wanted to be saved. He wasn't going to tell that to his brother, though. There was no point to it. It was done. That much was certain. He just had no idea how to convince his brother.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Jace sat behind the desk in his study as he stared at the man sitting next to him with such a look of disdain that one would wonder why he even would bother with such a meeting. The only people that knew the answer were the two in the room and Jace's best friend and right-hand man who was standing outside the door as sentry.

"And you are positive that you have taken care of Salvatore?" the man asked, his British accent making Jace wish he could stab his eardrums. "Remember our deal doesn't mean a thing if they learn of your location. The brothers tend to be vindictive if one has been hurt."

"If he isn't dead now" Jace began, "my witch has assured me that he will. She was meticulous in having a plan b."

The man nodded and got his feet. Jace neither stopped him nor spoke a word as he watched him leave. A moment later, Eli walked in and shut the door before turning to Jace.

"I don't think he believes you," he said.

"Doesn't surprise me, Eli," Jace assured him. "He doesn't strike me as the type to trust someone else's word. He also doesn't strike me as the type to uphold his end of a bargain. Keep a watch on Viktoria, and make sure he stays away from her."

Eli nodded and then left Jace to his thoughts. The man had come to Jace and made a deal with him, but yet, didn't tell him a thing about himself. All Jace knew was that the guy was acquainted with the Salvatore vampires and new what Stefan had done to his sister. Jace wanted to find out more, though.


	9. Just a Little Space

**Here's the new update. I hope you like it. **

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><p>Damon was going to go crazy if he had to be stuck in the house one more day with his brother. Stefan had barely left him alone. He was actually semi-surprise that Stefan allowed him privacy in his bathroom. The kid was that bad, and Damon was about ready to strangle him. He was a grown man and could take care of himself. He didn't need to be babysat by his semi-stable baby brother. It had been three days since he had gotten any semblance of privacy. Heck, despite the fact Stefan didn't watch him shower or go to the bathroom, the guy couldn't go ten minutes without checking on him.<p>

"Damon you've been in there for over forty-five minutes," Stefan called from outside Damon's bathroom door.

_So much for the ten minute intervals, _Damon thought to himself as he finished rinsing himself and turned off the shower head. He grabbed his towel and dried off. He waited for Stefan to knock on the door yet again. When he did, Damon smugly opened the door to show off his birthday suit. He smirked as Stefan immediately turned his back to him.

"Do you know how to use a towel?" he shot and his tone of irritation made Damon chuckle.

"Wasn't I naked when you found me?" Damon retorted as he went to his closet.

"That's not the issue and you know it."

"I do?" Damon asked, playing dumb as he pulled out an outfit to wear.

"Damon, my problem isn't your preference to show off your pasty white bum. It's the fact you're showing it off at all. What if I wasn't alone?"

Damon changed into a pair of black jeans and a dark gray t-shirt before even glanced up at Stefan. He considered the question for a few minutes and then raised an eyebrow. A second later he laughed.

"You're not worried about just anyone seeing me naked," he chuckled, slipping on his socks. "You just don't want Elena to see me naked. Come on, Stef, she would do you before she does me. Sadly."

"We're over, Damon," Stefan reminded him.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I hurt her in so many ways. Yes, we're over."

"In that case, you wouldn't mind if I called her and asked her out? Maybe I could get her drunk enough and convince Caroline to join us in a threesome."

That didn't seem to go over well with Stefan. His expression darkened, and before Damon knew it, he had been thrown into his dresser, shattering it. As he was getting to his feet, Stefan kicked him hard in the ribs, throwing him into the wall. He was ready when Stefan went at him again. This time, Damon grabbed him by the throat and slammed him to the floor.

"You feel that smoldering jealousy?" he asked. "That urge to tear me apart is the proof that you're lying through your teeth, Stef. You two are far from over. You're just too stupid to admit it."

With that said, Damon got to his feet and kicked his brother right into the wall. He then went back to his closet and pulled out one of his leather jackets. He put it on and then turned to his brother who was now sitting up on the spot of floor where he had landed.

"I'm going to the Grill," he said. "I'll be there with Ric so you don't have to fuss like an old lady. I'll be out for a while though. Oh and you're buying me a new dresser. Preferably, I want it here by the time I get home. It was eight hundred dollars you dick."

.X.x.X.x.X.

Stefan watched his brother leave before he got to his feet with a frustrated sigh. He hadn't meant to lose it like he had. He really hadn't. It made no sense to him why he had let Damon get such a rise out of him. He eyed the dresser he had destroyed and sighed again. How did his brother expect him to buy a dresser and get it there in a single day. He shook his head and headed out of the room. He nearly rammed into Elena.

"What happened?" she asked, frowning. "Damon let me in and then he just left with that look in his eye."

"We got into a fight," he said. "Don't worry about it."

"Are you all right?"

Stefan looked at her for a moment and then glanced back at Damon's room. He should replace that dresser. He should also beat his brother's face in. Well, no actually he just wanted to. He didn't have to. He had to replace that dresser though if he wanted any semblance of peace tonight. He then looked back to Elena.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "Did you want something?"

He kept his tone harsh and watched as Elena tensed at it. She opened her mouth as if she was going to reply, but then shook her head and turned around. He let her leave despite that annoying urge he had to stop her. He knew by doing all of this was hurting her, but he was also certain that it was better than the alternative. Despite what Damon had said, he wasn't being stupid. Pushing her away was the smartest thing he could do. Sighing, he left the house to go buy a replacement dresser for his brother.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Damon was at the Grill, but he hadn't gone to meet with Ric. In fact, the guy was sitting at the bar all by himself. He had a whiskey in his hand and was simply watching the people as they came and went. He needed the space away from everyone he knew and their watchful eyes. This was the closest he figured he could get without giving his brother reason to call a search and rescue on him because he decided to get away from town for an hour. He figured if he was seen somewhere he would usually haunt, he would be left to his thoughts, which was exactly what he both wanted and needed.

He wasn't the type to let bad situations stick with him. He usually got out of them and let it all go. This was different though. He couldn't get past this one. His brain was saying it was over, but there was something in him telling him the exact opposite. That feeling was getting worse as time went by. He was used to being screwed over and so he couldn't bring himself to believe it was over.

"A penny for your thoughts?" a voice whispered in his ear, startling him back to reality.

"I usually sell them for a dollar," he said as he looked up to find it was Tori.

Tori offered up a smile that made him uncomfortable. It was too soft and genuine for him. He didn't know what to make of it. So, he turned away and downed his whiskey before he flagged the bartender down.

"What would you like to drink?" he asked, smirking a little. "Come on. It's on me."

"Pineapple rum?" she asked and as the bartender went to get it she grabbed Damon lightly by the arm. "Just one Damon. I'm not letting you pay for anymore."

Damon chuckled and nodded a little. He would probably pay regardless of what she said. He owed her, according to his brother. He had every intention of paying up and then some. She did help his brother save him even though Damon hadn't wanted to be saved. He was glad, nevertheless, that his wishes had been ignored.

"So, how's life now that you're a free man once again?" she asked once her pineapple rum came and she took her first sip.

"Free?" he scoffed and shook his head. "Free implies that my brother hasn't become a fussing old granny and this isn't my first time out of the house or his sight. He is a fussing old lady and this is my first time away from him by the way."

"He can't be that bad."

"I've considered renaming him," he declared, "fifty times today alone."

"To what?" she asked.

"Faffer McGranny."

Tori had taken another drink of her rum so it sprayed all over the counter and then burst out laughing. This amused Damon greatly because he was serious for the most part. His amusement died a little as sharp pain hit him in his chest hard. Grimacing, he rubbed the spot and ordered some more Bourbon. The pain didn't ease up, but it was bearable enough that he could continue to enjoy himself.

"Do you throw darts or play pool?" he asked after a few minutes.

"I play a little pool," she admitted. "I never threw a dart in my life though."

Damon smirked and decided to change that. Ignoring her protests, he led her to the dart boards and placed a dart in her hand.

"Damon."

"Shh," he said against her ear as he pressed himself up behind her. "It's easy. Let me show you."

She stopped protesting and let him fix her hand around the dart and helped her throw it. He repeated the process a few more times and then let her throw one on her own. It didn't make the board at all, but he couldn't really do much about as the pain in his chest suddenly became unbearable and he collapsed.

"Damon?"

"Call Stefan," he groaned out just before he passed out from the agony.


	10. Trouble

**Sorry it's short. I was kinda stuck with exactly what I wanted to put Damon through as the second phase but I hated to keep you all waiting so I just wanted to get something up. Oh and keep a look out for a new story, starring the impish and malevolent Kol. **

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><p>Tori had immediately called Stefan from her phone, and watched Damon with a very concerned expression. Even unconscious, his face was screwed up in pain. She hated seeing it. She had thought she wouldn't have to now that he was away from her brother. She wasn't thrilled about being wrong.<p>

"Hello?" Stefan's voice broke her train of thought.

"Stefan, you need to come to the Grill," she said, eyes never leaving Damon. "Your brother, something happened."

"What? Is he all right?"

"Just hurry."

She didn't give him time to reply. She simply hung up and with some guy's help, she got Damon into the back room. She thanked the guy, promptly learning that his name was Matt and he was a rather reluctant friend of Damon's. For being a reluctant friend, Tori had to admit Matt was still worried about him. That was something she was glad to see since Damon did his best to make it seem like no one cared about his well-being and that he wasn't bothered by the thought.

"What did my brother do to you?" she asked, lightly brushing his hair out of his face.

He instinctively turned his face into her touch, which made her smile softly. She was actually surprised to be so fond of him, despite what he was and his less-than-magnetic personality. Then again, she had gotten the chance to see him soften up a few times. She also thought she understood him a little. He wasn't all bad. He couldn't be if he risked his life and sanity for his brother. Right?

.X.x.X.x.X.

Stefan felt as though his heart evaporated in lava. His brother had been fine today. If Stefan had any feeling that something was off with the older Salvatore, he would have fought harder to keep him home. Everything had seemed normal, though. They were bickering. Damon ticked him off. They broke a dresser. Nothing seemed out of sorts. He figured that Damon would be fine throwing back drinks at the Grill with Ric. Granted, he wasn't really sure he believed his brother was even with Ric so he called him as he headed for the Grill.

"Hello?" Ric greeted, sounding a little off.

"Hey, Ric," Stefan said. "Are you with Damon at the Grill?"

"No," he said with a groan. "I've been at home grading papers and trying to keep down my dinner."

"How long have you been sick?"

"All day. I gotta go."

Stefan wasn't able to answer before the history teacher hung up the phone. Well, there was the lie outed. Damon never planned on meeting up with Ric. The stubborn bastard had wanted alone time, apparently a date if he was going off of Tori's call alone. He wasn't Damon, though. He wasn't going to jump to conclusions. Besides, it was none of his business. His only concern was his stubborn brother's well-being.

He pulled into the lot and parked his car. He got out and didn't bother locking it as he entered the restaurant. Immediately, Matt approached him and led him into a back room. What he found as he entered made him instantly tensed up. The sight of his brother was unbearable. He looked to be in absolute agony. Sighing, Stefan tore his gaze off Damon and turned to Tori.

"What happened?" he asked her.

"I found him drinking at the bar and went over to him to say hi," she began. "He seemed perfectly fine to me at the time. We talked a little. He was mostly complaining about you smothering him. I thought it was amusing. Things still seemed okay. Then he started to teach me how to throw darts, and that was when everything went weird. He just grabbed at his chest and started screaming in pain. He told me to call you. Then he just passed out, and I called you."

Stefan nodded and knelt down beside his brother. He sighed lightly shook the man, praying it would wake him. It didn't. Stefan couldn't say it surprised him. He really hadn't expected anything else, but as he jostled his brother, something odd caught his attention from under his brother's shirt. He looked over to Matt — who didn't seem to notice it — and then over to Tori. He could tell instantly that she had noticed it, too.

"Matt help me get him into my car," he said. "Tori, you can meet me at home if you want."

Tori nodded and stood up as Matt bent down to help Stefan carry his brother. He could have carried Damon fine on his own. It just wasn't practical to showboat his supernatural strength in front of clueless humans. So a little unnecessary help wouldn't matter much. Matt opened the door for him and Stefan slid his brother into the backseat of the car. Nodding a thank you at Matt, Stefan closed the door and then got into the driver's seat before he drove off.

X.x.X.x.X.

Tori had gotten there just before Stefan and was getting out of the car as he pulled up. She watched him get Damon and throw him over his shoulder and she hurried to open the door for him. He simply nodded and headed up the stairs. Tori followed him into what she assumed to be Damon's room. It certainly reminded her of Damon as she looked around. Well except for the ruined dresser.

"We got into a fight this morning," Stefan explained, turning her attention to him. "He threw me into it."

"Really?"

He nodded and she smiled, not bothering to hide her amusement. She couldn't say see she was surprised, however. He did seem to have a temper on him, though she only saw the occasional hint while her brother had been torturing him. Sighing, she walked over to the bed and watched as Stefan removed his brother's shirt. She gasped at what she saw. His skin should have been healed by now, but in the center of his chest was an angry black mark. It had dark, sinister glow around it, and when Stefan reached over to touch, the contact had barely been made before Damon began thrashing and screaming in agony.

"What the hell is that?" she asked Stefan in a breathless whisper.

"I have no idea."


	11. All I Need

They thought that night would be the worst of it, but to Tori and Stefan's horror it was only the beginning. What started out as the occasional agonizing cry and squirm here and there escalated rapidly by the next afternoon. Though Stefan had told her to go home so that Jace wouldn't come looking for her, she refused and simply called a very good friend of hers to cover for her. She even got the girl to bring over some clothes. Well, she met her at the Square to get them and thank her. Then she came back, and Stefan gave her a room to stay in.

By about three in the afternoon, she decided to go into the bedroom and stay out of Stefan's way. He needed time with his brother, and she should call hers to make sure he didn't come hunting for her. So she called him, and they talked and argued. She hung up on him, and then fell asleep on the amazingly comfortable bed.

X.x.X.x.X.

Stefan watched Damon sleep. Well, if you could call it that. He was thrashing around nonstop in obvious agony, and Stefan couldn't do anything to help him. He wanted to. He needed to. He just couldn't, and it absolutely killed him. He just wished he could stop his brother's suffering. This was new for him, though. It had been a while since he was neither consumed by bloodlust nor furious vengeance. His mind wasn't clouded by any of that for once. The guilt and helplessness was strong though, very strong. He frowned and cringed as his brother gave out an earsplitting scream.

He couldn't remember a time where he heard anything like that come out of Damon. It was inhuman, even for a vampire. It was blood-curdling and unpleasant and just didn't seem to stop. The closest he could experience he seemed to be able to draw on was the time their father had lost it and beat Damon at the dinner table for being a little extra mouthy. That had been shortly after they found out their mother was sick. The more Damon refused to make a sound the harder their father would. Then he had taken a belt to him and at first Damon laughed. When the blood began pouring so had the screams, but even that couldn't be considered a comparison.

"I wish I could help you," he whispered, closing his eyes tightly.

Of course, Damon made no move to acknowledge the words. There was none of his usual snide comments. There was no reassurances. It was all just screaming and thrashing. He hated it, and after a while, he had all he could endure. He had to get out for some fresh air and a break. He could go and talk to Bonnie for her input, too. Hopefully, she would be willing and able to help. So he made his way to Bonnie's house and prayed she would put her prejudices aside one more time and help him help his brother.

This was so strange for him, all the emotions hitting him at once. After the months of feeling nothing and then just anger and vengeance, the rest of the emotions were just going haywire everywhere. He was struggling with them and that could be dangerous, lethal even, if he couldn't get a handle on them. He couldn't afford to let his emotions get the better of him, not when Damon was like this.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Jace growled as he tossed his phone aside. Tori was doing this to spite him. She was only staying at her friends because she was mad at him. He knew because normally she would plan something like this out for days and let him know everything before she left. When she left abruptly like this, it was because he had upset her somehow. What he couldn't understand was what he had done other than kill a vampire. Surely she didn't care about such a thing. After all she was grown up to hate vampires just like him. Did Klaus change that when he changed her? He hated the bastard, but doing what he asked ensured that his sister and his pack would be left alone. That was all he really wanted.

"Jace, he's back," Eli said from the door.

"Tell him I'm busy," he replied, not really wanting to deal with the original hybrid at the moment.

"It's important, Lovgren."

Jace froze. That wasn't Eli's voice, but it was familiar enough. It was Klaus, much to Jace's disgust and annoyance. Why couldn't he have just one day without the bastard hounding him about something? Giving up, he straightened and gave a grunt. Klaus took that as a gesture to come in and entered, looking annoyingly chipper. This was going to be a long day.

"What's so important?" he asked.

"It's about the Salvatore and your sister."

.X.x.X.x.X.

_I wish I could help you_. The words echoed around Damon, but seemed to have no source. He knew the voice. It was his brother. He just couldn't pinpoint where he was in the dark and dank void around him. It was so odd — the blackness surrounding and engulfing him. He wasn't used to such nothingness coming to his vision. Being a vampire, darkness didn't have this sort of meeting. He could usually see a lot more than this. Even in the darkest of nights and places. He hadn't had to deal with this since he were human.

"STEFAN!" he bellowed, trying to pinpoint him.

All that came back was his echo. Feeling dejected, he scowled and began looking around more closely. It was only when he looked down at himself that he realized he wasn't in darkness at all. His surrounding were just entirely black with no depth or variety. Instead of making him feel better, he felt worse. Where the hell was he? What was he doing there?

"You're in my world now, sweetie."

The voice made him tense up instantly. He knew that voice before he even turned around to confirm it. It was that witch that helped Jace torture him. He growled at her and bared his fangs. Only to realize he had none. He froze and shut his mouth before growling darkly at him.

"What did you do to me?" he sneered.

"Oh don't worry is a side effect to this world. Only my powers work here."

"Where are we?"

She laughed and he wanted to strangle. Luckily for her, he wanted an answer more than he wanted to strangle her. He also wasn't sure if killing her would keep him stuck here or set him free. He wasn't willing to chance it. At least not yet. He wanted answers.

"Let's just say we in a type of parallel plane of my creation thanks to that rune I branded on you before Jace left you to die. Now it's my turn to play with you."

He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, he found he couldn't move his body. He glared at her until an image appeared before them and he swallowed hard as he recognized it. It wasn't an image really — more like a silent film. It was just worse. His memories were being played out for the bitch to see and use against him.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Stefan sat in a chair he had set next to his brother's bed. Watching Damon now, his concern intensified with each and every moment. It worsened when Damon suddenly stopped screaming. He might have been relieved if Damon hadn't gone so stiff. He reminded Stefan of a statue to such extent that had his chest not been rising and falling with each breath, he would have feared his brother was dead. He was alive though. That much Stefan was sure of. Still, he wished he had an idea of what was wrong with him. He hadn't been able to leave his brother's side, and so when Elena came by to check on them, he sent her and Tori to Bonnie's with a picture of the mark on his brother's skin. Hopefully Bonnie could figure out what it was.

"Why won't you wake up?" he asked under his breath.

He hadn't expected an answer but that didn't want him from hoping. He hadn't felt like this in a long time. As a human and the first few years or so of their vampire lives, the feeling was strong. Having grown used to Damon hating him, he pushed away the childish need for his big brother. He had accepted the fact the brother he knew had died the night they turned. Then Elena came along and somehow brought him back to life just enough that Stefan could see a glimpse of the old Damon here or there. He let himself hope again that maybe just maybe his brother was still in there somewhere.

He swallowed and looked down at his hands as he thought back to the last time his brother almost died. Stefan had felt the same pang of loss and fear he felt now. It was the reason gave himself over to Klaus for the cure. He still needed his brother. He wasn't ready to let go as much as he had told himself that he could over the years. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard as a his thoughts flashed back to when they had been human long before Katherine came into their lives.

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><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed this chapter. My next update will probably chapter two of The Shining One (my new Kol story) but maybe not. It depends on my muse. Regardless i will update both soon.<strong>


	12. Memory Lane

**Finally updated. Sorry for it being so late. I've been busy. I hope you like it and please review. :-)**

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><p>"<em>Stefan."<em>

_Stefan ignored the voice and just watched the door he had been standing in front of for the last few minutes. He knew that voice. It was the voice of Asher Lockwood. He was a couple years older than Stefan, and one of Mystic Falls' biggest bullies. The sing-song tone he used as he said Stefan's name told the young Salvatore that he was in a mood and found him to be a worthy target. That was why Stefan was trying to ignore him. _

"_Are you ignoring me, Salvatore?"_

_Stefan probably should have answered, but he stayed silent and just kept his eyes on the door in front of him. The next thing that happened wasn't really a surprise as he felt two firm hands shove him hard from behind. He hit the ground hard, catching himself on his hands and knees and scraping them up pretty bad. He frowned and started to stand up. As he straightened Asher grabbed him by the collar of his shirt._

"_Still gonna ignore me, Salvatore?"_

"_Leave me alone," Stefan finally answered._

_That was a mistake he shouldn't have made, and he knew it even before the fist hit him in the gut forcing the air to leave his lungs in a rush. He curled in on himself to try lessening the pain. He looked up just in time to see Asher's fist come at his face and he closed his eyes immediately. The hit never came but Stefan did fall to the ground and could start hearing a scuffle that caused him to curiously open his eyes to see Asher pinned against the wall. It didn't take Stefan long to realize who It was that was pinning him. The look on Asher's face and the dark hair of the guy pinning him was all Stefan needed to know his brother had finally come out of the store._

"_You touch my brother again, you'll be hanging from your ankles over the quarry," Damon was saying. "Is that clear, Lockwood?"_

Stefan smiled a little at the memory. Asher hadn't hit him after that. It hadn't stopped him getting teased, but he hadn't gotten punched. Eventually, however, Asher and his goons found a loophole that made it hard to point on them. Stefan had been the subject of a few painful accidents. Damon had been furious of course.

Stefan gave his head a little shake and forced himself back to the present. Damon was still out cold and no amount of dwelling in the past would help, not that he knew how to help. He was still beating himself up for that knowledge when he saw his brother's entire body go ramrod stiff. The pained expression came back just seconds later. He looked like he was in agony but he didn't move or make a sound. He quickly got to his feet to make a few calls. He didn't want to leave his brother, but he felt better when he saw Tori standing out in the hall. She quickly entered the room and Stefan immediately felt better.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Damon was stiff as a board and not because the witch was doing some sort of wonky juju thing that made him paralyzed. He finally realized what memory he was watching. It was Stefan's third birthday. The boy was running around and being a pain, but of course Damon hadn't cared back then. That was until the younger boy smashed into the table in the hall and the expensive vase decorating it shattered. Damon took the blame soon as his father came to the scene and demanded to know what happened.

"Have you two always been that close?" Samia asked innocently.

Damon answered by growling at her. It was none of her business. What he didn't realize was that he didn't have a choice in the matter. The silent memory shimmered and changed to a much darker one. Damon knew which one it was immediately. It was the night they were killed, and the night everything changed. Damon watched the silent playback, and flinched when he saw himself hit the ground. At the time, he hadn't been aware of anything but the fact he was dying and Stefan had gotten Katherine taken. Now that he was watching it, he could actually fully acknowledge his brother. Stefan had screamed his name the moment he had hit the ground, but Damon hadn't cared. The fear in his brother's voice hadn't registered. Then Stefan had been shot and Damon had bled out.

He thought that would have been the end of the trip down memory lane. It wasn't though. Next one came when they were vampires. It came when Damon threw in the towel and left his brother to fend for himself. One particularly nasty memory it was, too, particularly on Stefan's end. For the first time in either of their lives, Damon had left his brother to fend for himself and didn't care what happened to him. Something shifted though and instead of going through Damon's memories is stayed on his brother and the images quickened.

Stefan being taught by Lexi was one of them. That wasn't a bad one. The kid was happy and even Damon could see it, though Damon knew from all the times he had sat reading his brother's journals, especially the older ones, that the happiness only lasted when he wasn't left to his thoughts. Damon frowned a little. Of all the times, he had invaded his brother's privacy the only thing mentioned was his guilt and a consistent repetition of the nasty things Damon said to feed that guilt. He had only recently learned just what truly bothered his brother. He hadn't wanted to be alone, but Damon made sure he would be.

"How the mighty fall," the witch cooed with perverse glee. "That wasn't even the cruelest thing you've done to him, was it?"

Damon didn't answer, but he didn't have to. Another memory was playing and he grimaced as he recognized it. It had been his brother's birthday where Damon plotted and finally killed Lexi. He grimaced at the recollection. Even after that, Stefan hadn't been able to kill him. He had staked Damon pretty good, though. Damon had fully expected his brother to kill him. He had been surprised when he had missed. The surprise increased when Stefan admitted he hadn't missed; he just spared him. As the witch laughed, Damon's temper finally boiled and exploded.

"You're gonna burn in hell, hag," he snarled, baring his fangs, "and I'm going to be there laughing at you as your skin melts from your bones."

That didn't go over well with Samia. She stopped laughing and turned a glare at him. The next thing he knew was pain and nothing else. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Memories played through his head as well.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Tori sat down in the chair by Damon's bed that Stefan had vacated when he left to make the routine calls he had been calling every few hours. She wasn't sure about why she was so comfortable just sitting there. She didn't know why she was so worried about him. She barely knew and it just made no sense. She was there though and it seemed right. As weird as that sounded, it was true.


	13. Just Stay a Little Numb

**Hey guys. Sorry this one's a little short, but my laptop's been acting up and so my muse hasn't been the best.**

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><p>There came a point during all of the watching over his brother where Damon started thrashing and screaming wildly. Stefan had fully expected for Damon to be dying from the way he was wailing howling. Then he just stopped and Stefan though he could relax for a little, especially as his brother's eyes opened. That was only for a moment, because just as quickly as they opened, Damon's eyes closed and he was once again unconscious. Stefan was beginning to think Damon was lost. He had to admit that the possibility of his brother dying was very real and very likely at the moment.<p>

He hated thinking that way but knew it was even truer than he wished it were. They didn't know what was wrong with him. Bonnie had tired out every lead she had, and she and Ric had burned through half the occult section in the library to no avail. Far as he could tell, they were at a dead end. That didn't bode well for his brother. Sighing, he looked up as he heard someone come down the hall toward the bedroom. It took him a moment to realize who it was when they knocked on the closed. He was none too happy about it, either.

"Come in," he said, watching as the door opened to reveal Elena.

"How is he?" she asked.

He didn't answer her right away – too busy watching her move as she walked over to him and Damon. Eventually, all he managed to give her was a shrug. It was better than voicing his thoughts aloud and to her. He didn't want to see her reaction. He didn't want to see how much she cared for his brother. He loved that she saw back his brother's murderous outer shell, but he knew it had grown to more than just a friendship. It was his fault for pushing his emotions and her away. He knew that. He just wasn't ready to face the consequences.

"You're worried about him," she said, bringing his attention to her.

"I'm pissed," he corrected.

She raised an eyebrow at him, and he turned his head away and kept his gaze on his brother. He knew what she was thinking, and he wasn't ready to face it. Not right now. He couldn't afford to let his emotions back in. As he refused to look at her, he heard her scoff and stomp out. The sound made him want to smile, but he didn't.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Damon had lost all sense of time at this point. He could barely tell the difference between past and present. The witch had done a number on his head, and so when the memories paused and faded back to the black void around him, he simply blinked a few times – too disoriented to do much more than that.

"Still with me?" the bitch drawled, helping him focus.

He bared his fangs and hissed. Disoriented or not, he refused to go lie down on his back like a dog and wait to be slaughtered. No, he would go down fighting. It was in his blood. It was what he lived by. If he was going to go down, he would take Samia with him. He was determined about that.

.X.x.X.x.X.

"Do you know what your brother is doing to him?"

Tori glanced up at Stefan's question and blinked. He hadn't said a thing to her in days. Marking her place in the book she was reading, she considered her answer carefully. She didn't want to piss him off, but she didn't want to lie to him either.

"No, I don't," she said.

Stefan cursed, but to her surprised, he didn't lose his temper. For the two and a half weeks she had known him, she learned he had a temper that could rival most werewolves when it came to two things. The first was his brother, and the second was Elena. Tori learned the hard way that Elena was an off-limit topic. Finding out hadn't been pleasant.

"I was going to go home for a bit," she said. "Maybe you could tag along. "

He raised an eyebrow. He wasn't stupid. She knew that he knew that Jace would likely kill him on sight if he went in with her. Tori wasn't asking him to come with her like a normal person. No, she was hinting that he follow her and sneak onto the property. She could keep Jace occupied while Stefan searched for answers. She watched the light in his eyes brighten and spark as he caught on, but then he frowned.

"I'm not leaving Damon alone," he said.

She bit her lip. She had to go home. If she didn't, Jace would come searching. She didn't want him to find Stefan, much less find her with him.

"I'll find the answers," she said. "Stay with your brother."

With that, she got to her feet and went to call her brother. She kept the conversation brief, though. She wouldn't say where she was, but promised to be home in a few hours. Then she hung up. The last thing she wanted to hear was him ranting like an old woman.


	14. Rise And Don't Shine

**sorry for how late and short this is. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long and will be a lot better.**

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><p>Jace was pacing in the front yard, impatiently waiting for his sister to arrive home when he got a phone call. Sighing he answered, knowing exactly who it was without even looking at the I.D. Samia was very punctual, calling around the same time, everyday, to give him an update on her progress with Damon.<p>

"How's it going?" he asked.

"I'm running out of memories to use against him," she said, sounding irritated.

"By your tone, I have to assume he hasn't cracked."

"Affirmative, but I have an idea on how to change that."

That caught his interest and he wanted to press for details, but Tori pulled up into the drive and got out of the car. He wanted to talk to his sister and get answers on where she had been. She looked well enough, but he still wanted to have proof she was okay.

"Do it," he told Samia. "I'll call you later for details."

He hung up without waiting for her reply and grabbed Tori by the arm. He then took her straight to his office, shut the door and locked it. Then, he turned to her and took her in with a critical gaze. He was searching for anything out of place in her appearance and demeanor. Seeing nothing obvious he relaxed and sat down behind his guest. She sighed and sat down in one of the spare chairs.

"Where the hell have you been?" he asked.

"I told you," she said. "I needed space and bunked at my friend's place for a while."

.X.x.X.x.X.

Damon woke up a few days after Tori left. It wasn't a slow revival-by-levels process. No, everything went on line immediately and he opened his eyes with a fierce gasp. He looked around to find himself alone in his room. Swallowing hard, he slowly sat up. He didn't get out of bed though. He had a feeling that if he tried he would just hit the floor. He didn't need another reason to be more pathetic than he already was.

"Stef?" he asked and grimaced at the sound of his voice. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "Stefan?"

How long had he been out? His voice was shot to hell, hoarse and weak. His entire body hurt, and his head felt like a goldfish bowl on a rocking chair. It wasn't pleasant at all. He wasn't used to feeling so weak, especially while not under the influence of vervain. He needed blood. That much was obvious, and so he got to his feet but his legs gave out from under him and he hit the floor hard. A second later, his door swung open to reveal Stefan.

"Damon?"

Yeah there was no shock in his baby brother's voice at all. He scoffed at the sarcasm in his observation and then looked up at his stunned brother. It took a moment, but he finally helped Damon back into bed – well tried to. The moment Stefan touched Damon; Damon was flooded with such excruciating pain that all he could do was scream from the agony of it. The moment Stefan released him, the pain vanished and he sunk to the floor and panted as he recovered. He then looked up at his brother.

"What the hell?" he asked.

Stefan simply looked back at him, just as confused as Damon was. Damon let out a heavy sigh and sat up.


	15. Agony

A week went by and nothing changed. Every time Damon was touched, he was in complete agony. He and Stefan had thought it was perhaps a fluke, but it didn't seem to be letting up. Damon was still being tortured by even the lightest of touches. The slightest brush of a finger that didn't belong to him across his skin set the spot in question ablaze. The longer the contact stuck and the more it spread. A single hug made the usually nerves-of-steel vampire scream for an end that he doubted would come. That was exactly what just happened to him. Having heard he was awake, Elena came over to see for herself. Once she saw him, she did the obvious thing and hugged him in a tight embrace. Damon tried to ignore the pain, and it worked for a moment. It quickly turned from tolerable to unbearable, and Damon reacted by using all his strength to the push Elena away from him. He ended up throwing her into the farthest wall.

"Damon!" Stefan snapped.

Damon barely heard him as he breathed through the pain, waiting for it to dissipate. When it became tolerable once again he looked over to Elena to find Stefan giving her his blood.

"Is she okay?" he asked his brother.

Stefan nodded as he pulled his arm away and helped Elena to the couch. Relief flooded Damon at the confirmation his brother gave him. He hadn't meant to throw her like he had. There was just only so much pain he could take. Damon was strong, but he wasn't invincible either. As untouchable as Damon liked to think he was, he really wasn't. Even he had a limit for how much he could take.

"I didn't get the chance to explain everything to her," Stefan said. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Damon said dismissively and went straight for his whiskey.

Damon poured himself some of his bourbon, trying to ignore the two pairs of eyes burning holes in the back of his skull. It didn't take long for him to get fed up and turn a glare on them both.

"What?" he snapped and at their silence he left for his room, ignoring his brother and Elena calling his name.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Tori was still at home with her brother, but she spent most of her time outside. She was certainly avoiding Jace, succeeding in it by scouring the yard for rocks to add to her collection. She was on her way back to her room for the day when she overheard Jace talking to the witch friend of his in his office. Curious, she slipped into the next room and used her heightened hybrid hearing to listen into the conversation.

"You let him wake up!" Jace screamed. "How is that a good thing, Samia? I'm failing to understand."

"Would you calm down and allow me too explain?" the witch said in a calm tone that made Tori's brother appear insane and irrational.

Tori wasn't really surprised. Jace really was insane and irrational. It was hell when something didn't go the way he wanted it to, because then he just got crazy. Those were times, Tori preferred to be away. They used to be rare situations, but they had gotten worse after she was turned. They were more frequent by far now.

"He's awake, but he's not free of the torture," she said. "I put a curse on him when he was in my realm. Every single touch and he will be in agony."

She could here Jace laugh at that and it took all her will power to stay in that room and not make it obvious she had been eavesdropping. She could only imagine what sort of hell Damon must be in, and it was enough to infuriate her. She knew her brother was an ass but how could he be so cruel?

.X.x.X.x.X.

Stefan was pacing around in the living room, debating on whether or not he should check on Damon. That and he was also trying to figure out the best way to avoid Elena. He still wasn't keen on being around her much just yet. She wasn't going to leave, though and he knew it. Sighing, he turned to finally look at her. She was sitting on the couch watching him intently. Her expression turned a lot warmer than he expected as their eyes met, and he immediately felt awkward.

"I'm sorry he threw you like that," he found himself saying, rubbing his neck uncomfortably. "I wasn't thinking."

"It's not your fault," she said with a frown. "Is he going to be okay?"

That wasn't a questioned he wanted to have to answer and plopped down the chair, shrugging in frustration. The answer was that he didn't know. He usually could figure his brother out even if Damon tried his best to hide, but this was different. He didn't know what was going through his brother's head. He didn't know how Damon was handling any of this, and it worried him. Something wasn't right and it was leaving a bad taste on his tongue while his gut screamed at him.

"I have no idea," he finally answered. "He hasn't talked about it, but I never seen him like this."

.X.x.X.x.X.

Damon was listening to them talk about him as he drank his bourbon in his bedroom. It certainly rubbed him the wrong way to here the concern in their voices. He hated being fussed over. It had to admit, though, that he was rather curious at Stefan's seemingly drastic change of heart. The last time he heard that tone, Stefan had locked him in the cellar after he tried to go crispy critter. Honestly, Damon hadn't thought this side of his baby brother still existed what with the whole dimmer switch. The realization was quite an interesting one.

"So much for the dimmer switch," he said drily to himself.

He scoffed at his own cynicism and downed another swig of bourbon and sat on his bed. If he wanted to be honest with himself – which he didn't – he would admit that Stefan's concern was justified. That would mean he wasn't dealing and needed help, however, and that was something Damon was far from ready to admit.


	16. Fix You

**I am so sorry for being gone so long. I lost my flash drive and then my inspiration and it took me a while to get it back. But it's back now and I hope you enjoy.**

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><p>After another week of the agony with every touch, Damon finally agreed to call Bonnie. She agreed to come and attempt to help, and they all convened in the living room of the boarding house. Damon sat in his favorite reading chair. The couch was occupied by Tori (who had arrived that morning to share everything she found out about what her brother was up to) with Stefan to her right and Elena at her left. Bonnie was kneeling at the coffee table, preparing a makeshift alter on the wooden surface.<p>

"I can't take the curse off," she admitted. "I can try to make it more tolerable though. Basically make it so not every touch hurts by linking you to someone. It will work basically like a buffer. As long as you're touching the link, the pain should be gone with them and lessened with anyone else that you may come into contact with."

Damon listened closely to that and considered her words. He nodded his head in understanding, but there was one small problem. There wasn't many people who would enjoy being linked to him.

"I'm not being linked to my brother," he announced firmly. "And Elena and Caroline aren't going to do it. I guess I'm scre-"

"I'll do it," Tori interrupted.

Damon froze and looked at her in surprise. Why would she jump to such a task? He was a dick, selfish and all sorts of rude. He didn't have time to respond, however. She didn't give him the chance as she knelt beside Bonnie. It was clear that she had made up her mind.

"What do you need, Judgy?" he asked, ignoring Elena and Stefan's eyes on him.

"Your blood," Bonnie said, holding out a goblet. "Both of you need to give me some. I will cast the spell on the blood and then, Damon, you'll drink it all. The effect should be immediate."

.X.x.X.x.X.

Stefan watched Bonnie work with baited breath. He watched Damon and Tori both bleed into the goblet. He watched Bonnie enchant the blood. He watched his brother drink it all down. Then, he waited in silence as Damon and Tori stared each other down. He watched his brother flinch so subtly that he knew he was the only one that noticed a nanosecond before Tori touched his face. He waited for the screaming to start and for Tori to be thrown across the room like every other time someone forgot and touched him for too long.

Damon didn't move or make a sound, and Stefan finally breathed. The spell worked. Damon wasn't screaming or freaking out. He was free of the pain, and that became even more obvious when Damon reached up and touched the girl's hand as it rested against his cheek. The expression on his face was the only thing Stefan really noticed, though. He noticed it because it was an expression he was having trouble placing. He glanced at Elena to see if she saw it, but it didn't seem she had.

"Stefan, Elena," Bonnie's voice broke him from his reeling thoughts. "Try touching him now."

He sighed and nodded at Elena to go first. If the 'buffer' didn't work, Stefan didn't want to be the one to inflict pain on him. Damon was likely to be more forgiving to Elena anyway. So Stefan stayed seated and waited. When Damon continued to stay silent when Elena slipped her hand in his, Stefan finally got up and walked over to them. He frowned and carefully placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Anything?" he asked him.

"A little," Damon said. "It's still there but more like an annoying sting. It doesn't actually hurt anymore. Thank you, Judgy."

Stefan turned to smile at Bonnie as she nodded and gathered up her things. With a muttered 'you're welcome' and a hurried goodbye, she left the house quickly. Elena followed her out and Stefan let Damon go. When Damon didn't acknowledge him, he left to get himself some blood.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Even when the others left, Tori stayed with him. She couldn't move even if she wanted to as Damon's intense gaze bore into her, paralyzing her. She had never seen that expression on his face before. It unnerved her but not in a necessarily bad way. She just wasn't sure what to make of it. If she was entirely honest with herself, she was actually enjoying the proximity and the intensity though.

"Why'd you do it?" he asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" she asked, blinking a little before looking at him.

"You hardly know me," he said. "Why did you volunteer for the spell?"

She frowned at the question and tried to think of an answer. She honestly didn't have one right off the bat. She didn't really know her answer. It wasn't like she had given much thought to it. She just did it.

"Someone had to," she finally said. "No one else really looked willing. Plus, I wanted to do it."

"I'm a selfish dick," he said. "Why bother?"

"But you're not," she said and before she knew it she was rambling. "If you were a dick, you would have let my brother have yours. You wouldn't be suffering so he could be safe and happy. You can be a dick and probably selfish, but all I see is a caring and protective older brother. From what I have seen, you're actually a lot less selfish than you think..."

She trailed off as his hand left hers to caress her cheek, and the inability to move kicked in once more as his eyes drifted to her lips and stayed there. Her mind reeled with so many thoughts and questions. Was he going to kiss her? Did she want him to kiss her?


	17. Dark Revelations

**I would like to reply to a guest's review. I'm sorry that the last chapter seemed frenzied and lazy. I admit it kind of was but it wasn't my intention. I just assumed Damon's reasoning behind not wanting his brother to be the link was obvious. The one linked has to be touching him in order for any one else to touch him. Damon and Stefan aren't the touchy feely (all huggy) sort of brothers. They were probably like that when they were human but as vampires that sort of physical brotherly affection isn't very common. Plus, stranger or not Damon is more a lady's man and I've never known him to shy away from a pretty face. I'm sorry I failed to explain this in the last chapter. It wasn't a slap to Stefan's face or anything. It was simply how I felt the characters would act in this situation, especially since Stefan is still struggling with his switch-flipping/obsession of vengeance. Also, one must keep in mind that Stefan and Damon are both working through problems and can't fully be there for each other, especially as a constant buffer from a nasty curse. I figured he could use a little break from responsibilities so he could sort through the things he needs to sort through, especially all that guilt.**

* * *

><p>Damon was never good with impulse control, and so without much thought, he leaned down and kissed her. He had to admit that being linked to her wasn't such a bad thing. It wasn't bad at all. She was gorgeous for one thing. For another, she had kept him alive and moderately sane even though it was against her own brother. That counted a lot to him. So, what better way to show his appreciation for her volunteering to yet again go against her brother than a kiss. Besides, he just wanted to kiss her. He broke the kiss as he heard his brother's familiar footsteps come in and stop dead. He waited for Stefan to speak and stared down at Tori.<p>

"What do you want, Stefan?" he asked when the younger vampire said nothing.

He watched Tori grow flustered and let go of him, making some excuse about needing to go to the bathroom before hurrying out of the room. He watched her disappear with amusement before turning to finally look at his brother, who only increased the amusement. Stefan was standing there staring at Damon with a mixed expression of confusion and astonishment.

"I was wondering if you wanted a glass of blood," he said. "You kissed her."

"Yes, Stefan," he said drily. "I mean no, I don't need but yes I kissed a girl and I liked it. You don't get points for pointing out the obvious."

"Thought you were in love with, Elena."

Damon turned to his liqueur cabinet and poured himself some bourbon with a grimace. Why did they always have to start this conversation over and over again. It was becoming irritating and redundant. He took a sip of his whiskey before turning to face his brother.

"Do you not recall the night of the Mikaelson's little shindig?" he asked. "You snapped my neck and said my feelings for her got in the way. Elena said the same thing, by the way. So I snapped Kol's neck, slept with Rebekah, played pool with Ric, and got kidnapped by a werewolf looking to avenge his sister for your stupid deal to save my life. Those weeks being tortured put things into perspective for me."

Damon watched as Stefan visibly winced at the harsh reminder. Damon rolled his eyes and went back to his whiskey as he waited for Stefan's counter attack. It wasn't that Damon wanted to fight. It was simply the fact that neither one had a good track record for letting past betrayals and pains go. When Stefan said nothing, Damon decided to continue.

"You punched me in the face for kissing Elena when you two weren't together," he said."You through me into my dresser after I made a crack about having a threesome with her. Whether you care to admit it or not, you love her as much as she still loves you. When I was being tortured, Elena only crossed my mind a handful of times and I realized something."

"What did you realize?" Stefan asked, tone curious and Damon thought he heard a twinge of nerves.

"She'll never love me, and I've accepted that," he said and left the room to let Stefan process that revelation.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Stefan just stood there, stunned. He barely registered it when Damon left the room. His thoughts reeling too fast. Damon never would have admitted that in his life. So, why the hell did he admit it? What game was his brother playing? Stefan wasn't sure. He didn't even know if he should be happy or worried. He definitely knew that he was confused. Sighing, he grabbed his jacket and left the house. He needed air and some space to think. That was the only thing he was certain of.

Why did Damon have to choose now of all times to go all weird and out of character? He preferred the Damon who hated him over this Damon. This Damon was just plain strange. Granted, he understood why his brother had accepted Tori over him to be the buffer in Bonnie's spell. Neither of them would have been comfortable in that proximity. Heck, they hardly ever talked. They didn't do the affectionate brotherly stuff. To have to do it in order for Damon to have any semblance of peace would have been awkward for both of them. Plus, he had no intention in having a threesome or anything close with his brother because just face it, his brother was a manwhore. He was bound to want some action. No, it was best that the older man was linked to a female.

Shaking his head, he shoved all thoughts of his brother out of his head only to be met with thoughts of Elena. What the hell did Damon go through that made him so willing to let go of her? Why was he so certain that Elena didn't love him but still loved Stefan? Seriously, Stefan couldn't see how Elena could after all the horrrible things he had done to her. He bit her. He nearly killed her to screw with Klaus' head. Before all that, he broke up with her quite coldly. Now, he was just a dick to her. How could she still love him?

"Stefan?"

The familiar voice wasn't lost on him; the confused tone brought him back to reality. Elena was standing on her porch, frowning at him. He blinked and looked around him. How did he end up here of all places? This was certainly not the destination he had in mind. He wasn't even aware he was heading in this direction.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked, pulling his attention back to her. "You look a little... distracted."

Stefan smiled ever so slightly. He was certain that distracted wasn't the word she was looking for but the nicest way to describe how he probably looked like a wreck. It was windy out and had started to pour down rain. He hadn't even noticed that, and now he was was soaking wet.

"Come inside," she said. "Get warmed up."

He hesitated but eventually looked at her and nodded. Even as his brain screamed at him that he was being an idiot, his feet made their way up the stairs of the porch and followed Elena inside and continued to follow her up to her room. With each step, he grew more uncomfortable. Memories assaulted him and he swallowed, pushing back the guilt that came with them. Then a pile of fabric hit him in the face and he just barely managed to catch them. He looked down and blinked at the outfit in his hands. He recognized the jeans and shirt in his hands immediately. He should. The outfit was his. He looked at Elena and raised an eyebrow at her.

"You kept my clothes?" he asked.

"Just that one," she said rolling her eyes. "Lake house weekend. You missed them repacking or something. Ric found them when he went up there to get some of my parents' vampire you want to stay in your wet clothes, I can take the outfit back. Maybe Jeremy would like them. Maybe I could give them to Matt."

"No, I like the idea of dry clothes, thanks," he said, quickly.

She snickered and left the room so he could change in peace. Stefan figured it was because someone was in the bathroom. He could hear water running so it was probably Jeremy. Shaking his head, he changed into the dry outfit and then headed downstairs with the pile of wet clothes.

.X.x.X.x.X.

Elena looked up from the couch as she heard Stefan come down the stairs. She stood up and walked over to him, looking at the wet pile of fabric in his arms instead of at him.

"I can throw those in the dryer for you if you like," she offered finally looking up at him.

He looked at her, nodded, and held the pile out for her to take. She grabbed them and walked off to the laundry room. She tossed them into the dryer with a sheet of fabric softener, slammed the thing shut, and turned it on. She turned around only to run right into Stefan. She hadn't even realized he was following her. Swallowing, she looked up at him and waited for him to do or say something. Anything was better than this awkward silence. She just didn't expect him to plant a kiss on her. She closed her eyes and let him, but before she could kiss him back, he pulled away.

"W-what was that for?" she whispered, breathlessly as her head spun with confusing questions.

"I don't know," he said.

She frowned at him. She could see the confusion and uncertainty on his face, hear it as he spoke. He really hadn't planned on kissing her. For some reason, that stung her. She nodded, looked down, and moved around him to pass him only to be stopped. He grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back.

"I have no idea what the hell I'm doing," he admitted before she could speak. "I shouldn't be here at all. I shouldn't kiss you. You shouldn't want me to. I just shouldn't be anywhere near you."

"Then why kiss me?" she asked. "What do you want me to do?"

She watched as Stefan shook his head and turned to leave. Oh no, she was done with him trying to run away from her when she wanted answers.

"What do you want from me, Stefan?" she asked more firmly.

"I WANT YOU TO PUSH ME AWAY!" he exploded. "I want you to push me away, to smack me. Anything but let me near you. I want you to _hate_ me."

He was gone in flash after that. Elena was left with those parting words running through her head. He may want that, but he couldn't have it. She tried to hate him. She always failed. It was never going to happen. That much she knew for certain.

.X.x.X.x.X.

"Jace, you have to stop this!" Tori exclaimed, tears threatening to escape. "There is no reason for you to hate Stefan Salvatore. I'm happy like this, Jace. It's about time you accept that I'm a hybrid now. Until you do, don't expect me home. I'm not putting up with your insanity."

"My insanity?" he snapped. "The only one who's insane here is you, Viktoria! You're a hybrid! A freak and you're okay with that? You're just fine with being half of the very sort of monster that killed our parents? How can you not hate being an abomination as much as I do?"

Tori's tears finally fell and she hung up on her brother. She knew that Jace hated what happened to her, but she didn't think that he truly so her as something lesser just because she was a little different. He had never called her a freak before, and he had never sounded so disgusted. For the first time since Klaus turned her, she realized that it really wasn't Stefan Salvatore he hated. It was her, all because she was half vampire. The tears kept pouring, and she sobbed as she sunk to the floor of the Salvatore's study.

"Is there a reason you're crying on my floor?"

The voice startled her, and she quickly wiped her tears away. She sniffled and looked down at the floor, refusing to respond or even look at him. She heard him sigh and the next thing she knew, Damon was scooping her up into his arms and started carrying her off.

"Well, whatever reason you have for bawling your little eyes out," he muttered, laying her on a bed. "I would prefer it if you didn't stain my floor with tears. That is what cheap pillows are for."


End file.
